





















































































ONLY COMPLETE AMERICAN EDI' ON. 


T 


GU ^LIVER’S TRAVELS 


INTO SEVERAL REMOTE RATIONS OF THE WORLD, 

Jit jFour Parts. 

BY DEAN SWIFT, 

TI ’A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 

BY KEY. JOHN MITFORD ; 

i STD COPIOUS NOTES, BY W. C. TAYLOR, LL.D. 



PHILADELPHIA: 


J. B. LIPPING OTT & CO 







WORKS OF DEM SWIFT 





PEEFACE TO THE AMEEICAN EDITION. 


Gulliver’s Travels, which are here presented in 
an accessible and attractive form, have been justly 
styled “ a great moral romance.” A grave and 
serious purpose is hidden under the disguise of the 
wildest invention and the most grotesque humor. 
'The original design of the Yoyage to Lilliput was to 
satirize the enemies of the author. The story is bu 
the shaft and feathering of the arrow, which giv< 
force and direction to its barbed head. The note: 
appended to this edition point out, as far as possible 
after so many years, the immediate objects satirized 
Had it, however, only a personal aim, the book would 
have perished with the persons and events to whidh 
it owed its origin; but as a keen and biting satire 
upon follies and vices of perennial growth, it has 
acquired a lasting reputation. Lilliput is not the only 
nation where high offices, lofty stations, and great 
employments are gained by creeping and crawling 
before the governing power, whether prince or popu- 
lace. The petty game of court intrigue and state 
policy is i itemptible because the play' 

■f as many inches high. The < 


VI 


PREFACE 


seven-inch monarch of Lilliput had as good a right 
to the passive obedience of his subjects as have his 
seven-feet brethren. Viewed from the height of a few 
hundred feet, we are no larger than the Lilliputians. 
From the distance of the moon— but a step into infi- 
nite space — kingdoms would seem less than ant-hills. 
.The distinction between High-heels and Low-heels is 
quite as intelligible and important as man y in respect 
to which party lines have been most strictly drawn. 
Our theological world has been convulsed by contro- 
versies — Filioque , Homoousian , and Homoiousian , to 
say nothing of others of more recent date — not a whit 
more essential than that of the Big-endians and the 
Little-endians, and which have been none the less 
fiercely waged because neither party was able to 
comprehend his own opinion or that of his adversary, 
i t while follies and vices become ridiculous and 
ous when enlarged to Brobdingnagian or con- 
tracted to Lilliputian dimensions, no noble deed, lofty 
purpose, or wise aim bses anything of its worth or 
' r’nity. These arise not from our acts — which are 
g^at as well as small, infinitely little — but from 
• k e spirit in which they are performed. 

he Life of Swift presents a practical satire no less 
• keen than his writings, and its perusal will furnish 
Lou i for the considerate, and reproof to the wayward 
and reckless. 



CONTENTS. 



Memoir of Dean Swift 


ritfi 

19 


PART I. 

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 

CHAPTER I. 

The author gives some account of himself and family — His inducements to 
travel — He is shipwrecked, and swims for his life — Gets safe on shore in the 
country of Lilliput — Is made a prisoner, and carried up the country . . 85 

CHAPTER II. 

The Emperor of Lilliput, attended by several of the nobility, comes to see the 
author in his confinement — The Emperor’s person and habits described. — Learned 
men appointed to teach the author their language — He gains favour by his mild 
disposition — His pockets are searched, and his sword and pistols taken from 
him 100 


CHAPTER III. 

The author diverts the Emperor, and his nobility of both sexes, in a very uncommon 
manner — The diversions of the court of Lilliput described — The author lia° 
liberty granted him upon certain conditions lid 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mildendo, the metropolis of Lilliput, described, together with the emperor’s palace 
— A conversation between the author and a principal secretary, concerning the 
affairs of that empire — The author offers to serve the emperor in his wars . 1 ‘24 

vii 


CONTENTS 


Vlll 


P AG* 

CHAPTER V. 

The author, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an invasion— A high title of 
honour is conferred on him — Ambassadors arrive from the Emperor of Blefuscu 
and sue for peace — The Empress’s apartments on fire by accident; the author 
instrumental in saving the rest of the palace 131 


CHAPTER VI. 

Of the inhabitants of Lilliput; their learning, laws, and customs; the manner of 
educating their children — The author’s way of livmg in that country — His vindi- 
cation of a great lady . - , 140 

CHAPTER VII. 

The author being informed of a design to accuse him of high treason, makes his 
escape to Blefuscu — His reception there 152 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The author, by a lucky accident, finds means to leave Blefuscu ; and, after some 
difficulties, returns safe to his native country 168 


PART II. 

A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 

‘ - CHAPTER I. 

A great storm descried ; the long boat sent to fetch water, the author goes with it 
to discover the country — He is left on shore, is seized by one of the natives and 
carried to a farmer’s house — His reception, with several accidents that happened 
there — A description of the inhabitants . . . . . . 1T5 

CHAPTER II. 

A description of the farmer’s daughter — The author carried to a market town, and 
then to the Metropolis — The particulars of his joux-ney .... 191 


CHAPTER III. 

The author sent for to court— The queen buys him of his master the farmer, and 
presents him to the king — He disputes with his majesty’s great scholars— An 
apartment at court provided for the author — He is in high favour with t lie queen 
— He stands up for the honour of his own country — His quarrels will the queen’s 
dwarf 196 


CON TENTS 


IX 


PAS* 

CHAPTER IY. 

The country described — A proposal for correcting modern maps — The king’s palace, 
and some account of the metropolis — The author’s way of travelling — The chief 
temple described . 210 


CHAPTER V. 

Several adventures that happened to the author — The execution of a criminal — The 
author shows his skill in navigation 216 


CHAPTER YI. 

Several contrivances of the author to please the king and queen — He shows his skill 
in music — The king inquires into the state of England, which the author relates to 
hi m — The king’s observations thereon 227 


CHAPTER Yn. 

The author’s love of his country — He makes a proposal of much advantage to t 
king, which is rejected — The king’s great ignorance in politics — The learning <• 
that country very imperfect and confined — The laws and military affairs, ai 1 
parties in the state ! 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The king and queen make a progress to the frontiers — The author attends them— 
The manner in which he leaves the country very particularly related — He returns 
to England 248 


PART III. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &C. 


CHAPTER I. 




The Author sets out on his third voyage — Is taken by pirates— The malice of a 


Dutchman— His arrival at an island — He is received in Laputa 


.Ty. 

4 


265 


CHAPTER II. 


The humours and dispositions of the Laputians described — An account of their 
learning — Of the king and his court — The author’s reception there — The inhabit- 
ants subject to feqf and disquietudes — An account of the women . . 272 


\ 


X 


CONTENTS 


rui 

CHAPTER III. 

A phenomenon solved by modern philosophy and astronomy. The Laputians* 
great improvement in the latter. The king’s method of suppressing insurrec- 
tions 281 


CHAPTER IV. 

The Author leaves Laputa ; is conveyed to Balnibarbi ; arrives at the metropolis 
— A description of the metropolis, and the country adjoining — The Author hos- 
pitably received by a great lord — His conversation with that lord . . 2S7 


CHAPTER V. 

The Author permitted to see the grand academy of Lagado — The academy largely 
described — The arts wherein the professors employ themselves . . 294 


CHAPTER VI. 

A further account of the academy — The Author proposes some improvements, 
which are honourably received 80‘2 


CHAPTER VII. 

The Author leaves Lagado, arrives at Maldonada — No ship ready — He takes a 
voyage to Glubbdubdrib — His reception by the governor .... 809 


CHAPTER VIII. 

farther account of Glubbdubdrib — Ancient and modern history corrected 814 

CHAPTER IX. 

Author returns to Maldonada — Sails to the kingdom of Luggnagg — The Author 
confined — He is sent for to court — The manner of his admittance — The king’s 
great lenity to his subjects 321 


CHAPTER X. 

The Luggnaggians commended — A particular description of the Struldbrugs, with 
many conversations between the Author and some eminent persons upon that 
subject 32 fi 


CHAPTER XI. 

The Author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan — From thence he returns in r 
Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to England ... 881 


CONTENTS 


XI 


FA«fl 

PART IV. 

A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OP THE HOUYHNHNMS. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Author sets out as captain of a ship — His men conspire against him, confine 
him a long time to his cabin, and set him on shore in an unknown land — He 
travels up into the country — The Yahoos, a strange sort of animal, described — The 
Author meets two Houyhnhnms ......... 841 


CHAPTER II. 

The Author conducted by a Houyhnhnm to his house — The house described — The 
Author’s reception — The food of the Houyhnhnms — The Author in distress for 
want of meat — Is at last relieved — His manner of feeding in this country 349 

CHAPTER III. 

The Author studies to learn the language — The Houyhnhnm, his master, assists in 
teaching him — The language described— Several Houyhnhnms of quality come out, 
of curiosity to see the Author — He gives his master a short account of his 
voyage 856 


CHAPTER IY. 

The Houynhnm’s notion of truth and falsehood— The Author’s discourse disap 
proved by his master — The Author gives a more particular account of himself 
and the accidents of his voyage 


CHAPTER V. 

The Author, at his master’s commands, informs him of the state of Engl and- -The 
causes of war among the princes of Europe — The author begins to explain the 
English constitution 869 


CHAPTER YI. 

A continuation of the state in England under Queen Anne — The character of a 
first minister of state in European courts ....... 877 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Author’s great love of his native country — His master’s observations upon the 
constitution and administration of England, as described by the Author, with 
parallel cases and comparisons — His master’s observations upon human na 

tore 885 


1 


CONTENTS 


£11 


TAB* 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Author relates several particulars of the Yahoos — The great virtues of the 
Houyhnhnms — The education and exercise of their youth — Their general assem- 
bly 394 


CHAPTER IX. 

A grand debate at the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, and how it was deter- 
mined — The learning of the Houyhnhnms — Their buildings — Their manner of 
burials — The defectiveness of their language 401 

CHAPTER X. 

The Author’s economy, and happy life, among the Houyhnhnms — His great improve- 
ment in virtue by conversing with them — Their conversations — The Author has 
notice given him by his master, that he must depart from the country — He falls 
into a swoon for grief: but submits— He contrives and finishes a canoe by the 
help of a fellow-servant, and puts to sea at a venture .... 40T 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Author’s dangerous voyage — He arrives at New Holland, hoping to settle there 
—Is wounded with an arrow by one of the natives — Is seized and carried by force 
Into a Portuguese ship — The great civilities of the captain — The Author arrives 

at England ' 416 


CHAPTER XII. 

The Author’s veracity — His design in publishing this work— His censure of those 
travellers who swerve from the truth — The Author clears himself from any sinister 
ends in writing— An objection answered — The method of planting colonies — Ilis 
native country commended — The right of the crown to those countries described by 
the Author, is justified — The difficulty of conquering them — The Author takes hia 
last leave of the reader ; proposes his manner of living for the future ; gives good 
advice, and concludes 426 


«p 




LIFE OF SWIFT. 


BY THE REVEREND JOHN MITFORD. 


Jonathan Swift, the Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, was 
descended from the younger branch of the family of the 
Swifts in Yorkshire. His grandfather was the Rev. Thomas 
Swift, vicar of Goodrich, in Herefordshire. He died in the 
year 1658, leaving ten sons and three or four daughters, with 
no other fortune than a very small patrimonial estate, almost 
destroyed by the fines and sequestrations which he drew on 
himself for his activity in the cause of Charles I. Jonathan 
Swift, the father of our author, was the sixth or seven son of 
the Yicar of Goodrich ; in consequence of his elder brother, 
Godwin, being appointed attorney-general of the palatinate 
of Tipperary, under the Duke of Ormond, after the Restora- 
tion, Jonathan, who was also bred to the law, followed him 
into Ireland. There he married Abigail Ericke, of Leicester- 
shire, a lady of ancient family, but no fortune. In Ireland he 
had some employments and agencies, and was appointed 
steward to the Society of the King’s Inn, Dublin, in 1665. 


is 


14 


LIFE OF S W IFT. 


After having held his appointment two years, he died, leaving 
an infant daughter, and his widow then pregnant, in so desti- 
tute a situation as to be unable to defray the expenses of her 
husband’s funeral. Her brother-in-law, Godwin, was her chief 
support. On the 30th of November, 1667, being St. Andrew’s 
Day, she was delivered of a son ; and the house where the 
celebrated author, whose life we are now writing, was born 
is still pointed out. It is No. 7, of Hoey’s Court, Dublin ; the 
appearance of its antiquity seems not to oppose the correctness 
of the tradition ; it is small, and was, not many years since, 
occupied by Mrs. Jackson, a dealer in earthenware. 

The nurse to whom the care of the infant was entrusted 
was a native of Whitehaven ; being summoned to attend the 
request of a dying relation, she clandestinely, but out of pure 
affection, carried away the child with her. His mother was 
unwilling to risk the insecurity of a second voyage, and per- 
mitted it to remain with its faithful and affectionate protector 
for three years, when she returned to Ireland, and proved that 
she had been as careful of its education as she was attached 
to its person. 

At the age of six, Swift was sent to the school of Kilkenny, 
and at fourteen admitted into the University of Dublin. He 
was entirely dependent for his support upon the allowance 
made to him by his uncle Godwin ; this was hardly more 
than would cover the necessities of life, for his uncle had a 
numerous family his own, and had much injured his fortune 
by imprudent speculations. Swift was either not awaro o+* 
his uncle’s circumstances, or if he were, the smallness in 
beneficence was not enough to awaken his gratitud 


LIFE OF SW IFT. 


15 


when once questioned about it, rather roughly, at a visitation 
dinner, he answered the insulting question in a loud and bitter 
accent,— “ Yes, he gave me the education of a dog !” 

While he was at the university, he appears to have disliked 
and neglected the line of study which was at that time culti- 
vated; and a proficiency in which was necessary for the 
attainment of his degree. Instead of mastering the intrica- 
cies of the old Treatises on Logic, written by those great 
men, Smeglesius, Kechermanus, and Burgesdicius, he passed 
his time more agreeably in reading poetry and history, and 
he told his tutor that he could reason without the assistance 
of the artificial rules of logic. There is a proof, however, 
that though he turned aside from the path of academic study, 
his voluntary reading was extensive and various, for he had 
drawn up a rough sketch of the Tale of a Tub, which he com- 
municated to his friend, Mr. Waryng. The first time he sat 
for his degree it was refused him ; and so pertinaciously did 
he" adhere to his determination not to attend to the necessary 
line of studies, that when he went up a second time he suc- 
ceeded only through the interest of his friends. It was 
inserted in the College Register that he attained his degree 
Speciali gratia. In going through the forms of disputation, 
he told Dr. Sheridan that he was utterly unacquainted even 
with the logical terms, and answered the arguments of his 
opponents in his own manner and words. His biographer 
adds, that there was one circumstance in the account which 
S'.vift ^ave him that surprised him with regard to his memory; 
for • told him the several questions on which he disputed, 

• peated all the arguments used ly his opponents in their 


16 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


syllogistic forms. He remained in the college nearly three 
years after this, not through choice, but necessity. Little 
known or regarded by scholars, he was esteemed a block- 
head ; and as the lowness of his circumstances would not 
allow him to keep company of an equal rank with himself, 
or on an equal footing, he scorned to take up with those of a 
lower class, or to be obliged to those of a higher. He lived 
therefore much alone, and his time was employed in pur- 
suing his course of reading in history and poetry, then very 
unfashionable studies for an academic, or in gloomy medita- 
tions on his own unhappy circumstances. 

Soon after this time, his uncle Godwin was seized with a 
lethargy, which rendered him incapable of business, and the 
embarrassed state of his affairs became known. Another 
uncle, William, for a short period, supplied to our author the 
place of his former benefactor ; and though he had not the 
means of enlarging the extent of his bounty, he bestowed it 
with so much more willingness and grace, as to receive that 
gratitude from Swift which he deserved. But Swift’s chief 
hopes now rested on his cousin Willoughby, the eldest son 
of his uncle Godwin, a merchant at Lisbon ; nor was he dis- 
appointed in his expectations ; a supply arrived at the very 
time when it was needed, and the incidents attending it shall 
be related in the words of his biographer : “ Swift, without a 
penny in his purse, was despondingly looking out of his 
chamber window to gape away the time, and happened to 
cast his eye on a sea-faring man, who seemed to be making 
inquiries after somebody’s chambers ; the thought immedi- 
ately came into his head that this might be some master of a 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


17 


vessel, who was the bearer of a present to him from his cou 
sin at Lisbon. He saw him enter the building with pleasing 
expectation, and soon after heard a rap at his door, which he 
eagerly opening, was accosted by the sailor with, ‘ Is your 
name Jonathan Swift?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘ Why then, I have some- 
thing for you from Master Willoughby Swift of Lisbon.’ He 
then drew out a large leather bag, and poured out the con* 
tents, which were silver coins, upon the table. Swift, enrap- 
tured at the sight, in the first transports of his heart, pushed 
over a large number of them, without reckoning, to the sailor, 
as a reward for his trouble ; but the honest tar declined 
taking any, saying, That he would do more than that for good 
Master Willoughby. This was the first time that Swift’s dis- 
position was tried with regard to the management of money ; 
and he said that the reflections of his constant suffering 
through the want of it, made him husband it so well, that he 
was never afterward without something in his purse.” 

Soon after this, on the breaking out of the war in Ireland, 
Swift left that country to visit his mother ‘at Leicester, and to 
consult with her on his future plans and prospects of life. He 
was now in his one-and-twentieth year, not qualified by par- 
ticular study for any profession, except, perhaps, for the 
church ; his academical reputation was not advantageous to 
him; the recluseness of his life had rendered him little 
known ; and the spleen and severity of his temper had not 
attracted many friends. 

Without any letter of recommendation to introduce him 
in England, and without any acquaintance who could assist 
him, Swift left Chester on foot to visit a mother, who was 


18 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


Herself dependent on the precarious bounty of her frieiids. 
With her he remained some months, and requested her 
advice as to the course which he should pursue.^ Most fortu- 
nately she recollected that the lady of Sir William Temple 
was her relation, that there had been an intimacy between 
the families, that Thomas Swift had been chaplain to Sir 
William Temple, and had been provided for by him in the 
church. She therefore recommended her son to go to Sir 
William Temple, and communicate to him his depressed situ- 
ation and gloomy prospects. When he arrived at Shene, the 
residence of the retired statesman, his story was listened to 
with compassionate attention ; he was cheerfully received into 
his house, and treated with kindness and generosity. Although 
he was not admitted to much personal familiarity with his 
illustrious kinsman, yet he found in his house what was of inval- 
uable advantage, sound advice with regard to the prosecution 
of his studies, and a secure and elegant retirement, where he 
could pursue them undisturbed. 

For eight years he followed a system of study, according to 
his own account, of not less than eight hours a day. Among 
other books, he is known to have read Cyprian and Iranaeus. 
The first interruption of this studious course of life, was occa- 
sioned by an illness produced by a surfeit of fruit, which brought 
on a coldness of stomach and giddiness of head that he never 
afterwards could shake off. At one time, his physician 
advised that he should try the effects of his native air, and he 
left Moor Park (to which Sir William had removed) for Ire- 
land ; but finding himself worse, he returned, and when his ill- 
ness abated, resumed with fresh vigour his interrupted studies. 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


19 


About this time, Sir William Temple began to discover 
some of the valuable parts of bis relative’s character; and 
Swift says, that he then grew in confidence with him. He 
was present at the confidential interviews between King 
William and the statesman ; and when the latter was confined 
to his room with the gout, the duty of attending on the king 
devolved on Swift. It is said, that the king offered him a 
a troop of horse ; and he showed him how to cut asparagus 
after the Dutch fashion. It is probable that he obtained some 
promise of preferment in the church ; for, in a letter dated 
1692, he says to his uncle, “I am not to take orders till the 
king gives me a prebend.” 

In 1692, he went to Oxford to take his Master’s degree, to 
which he was admitted on the 5th of July, 1692. From 
Oxford he paid a visit to his mother, and then returned to 
Moor Park. He now was anxious to establish himself inde- 
pendently in the world, and he looked for the preferment 
which had been promised. But suspicions grew in his mind 
that Sir William Temple was not so forward in assisting him 
as he could wish, and feared that Swift would leave him 
when he was provided for. Perhaps his society was become 
not only convenient and agreeable, but even necessary to one 
far advanced in life, declining in health and afflicted with 
painful disorders. Besides, Temple was very anxious to 
have an accurate and correct copy of all his writings ; and 
Swift’s assistance in this respect was invaluable. The work, 
however, whicn the aged and experienced statesman was to 
bequeath to posterity, advanced but slowly, and Swift’s impa- 
tience could ill bear any longer delay. After remaining tw<s 


20 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


years longer at Moor Park, he determimed to leave his patron 
and take his chance in the world. Sir William received the 
communication with marks of displeasure ; but offered him a 
small place, worth about a hundred pounds a year, then 
vacant in Ireland : Swift replied, “ That since he had now an 
opportunity of living without being driven into the cnurch for 
a maintenance , he was resolved to go to Ireland to take holy 
orders. ,, This answer conveyed his belief in the insincerity, 
and his feelings of the indelicacy of Sir William’s proposal ; 
and they parted with resentment at least on one side, and dis- 
pleasure on both. 

He procured a slight recommendation to Lord Oapel, then 
'ord deputy of Ireland, and was ordained in September, 1694, 
being then almost twenty-seven years old. Soon after, Lord 
Capel gave him the prebend of Kilroot, in the diocese of 
Connor, worth about a hundred pounds a year. To this place 
Swift repaired to discharge the duties of his office, and taste, . 
for the first time, the sweets of independence. But there 
were many serious drawbacks on his happiness ; he was placed 
in a very obscure situation and in a half civilized country ; 
he enjoyed none of the charms of society, or the advantages 
of enlightened conversation : his mind looked back with regret 
to the delights which Moor Park had so long afforded ; he 
was also reluctant that his talents and his ambition 
should be buried in the seclusion of a distant and deserted 
pl'Mie; and having received a kind letter from Sir William 
h ; aself, which proved that all animosities had subsided, and 
v "ich contained an invitation to his house, Swift resigned 
i^s living, and hastened to England, after a little more than 


LIFT OF SWIFT. 


21 


a year’s absence. His residence with Sir William Temple 
was now voluntary ; and they appear to have lived in mutual 
confidence and esteem. Swift maintained his same diligent pur- 
suit of study, and performed the duties of chaplain in the family. 

Swift took on himself the office of preceptor to a niece of 
Sir W. Temple, who resided in the house ; and, at the same 
time, Miss Esther Johnson, so well known as Stella, shared 
the benefits of the instructor. Miss Johnson was daughter 
of a gentleman of good family in Nottingham, by profession a 
merchant in London ; she was about fourteen years of age. 
very beautiful, possessing fine talents, and it is not to be won- 
dered at, that Swift took peculiar pleasure in cultivating and 
improving her mind, though he probably little thought how 
closely their fortunes and their fame were hereafter to be 
united. He wrote his digressions in the Tale of a Tub and 
the Battle of the Books at this time. 

Sir W. Temple died in the year 1699, leaving Swift a 
legacy and the advantage to be derived from publishing his 
posthumous writings. He also obtained from King William 
a promise of a stall at Canterbury or Westminister for him. 
How much Swift esteemed him, may be seen in a part of the 
register which he kept of Sir William’s illness, where he con- 
cludes : — “ He died at one o’clock in the morning, and with 
him all that was great and good among men.” From another 
memorandum copied by Thomas Steele, Esq. jun. we have 
this further character of his patron : — He was a person of the 
greatest wisdom, justice, liberality, politeness, elegance, of his 
age and nation. The truest lover of his country, and one 
♦hat deserves more from it, by his eminent public services. 


22 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


than any man before or since, besides his great deserving of 
the commonwealth of having been universally esteemed the 
most accomplished writer of his time.’* 

On the death of Sir W. Temple, Swift removed to London, 
and his first care was to discharge the trust reposed on him 
of publishing a full and correct edition of his patron’s works. 
This he dedicated to the king. After waiting some time for 
the fulfilment of the promise made for his advancement in 
the church, he addressed a memorial to the monarch ; but it is 
said that Swift had reason to believe that the Earl of Romney, 
who promised to second it with all his interest, in fact, sup- 
pressed it, and never mentioned it at all. After waiting 
dome time in vain, he relinquished his hopes of preferment and 
Accepted the offer made to him by Lord Berkeley, of 
Attending him to Ireland as his private secretary and chaplain. 
When they arrived at Dublin, he found himself supplanted in 
nis former office by a person of the name of Bush, who had 
ingratiated himself into his lordship’s favour. Swift’s indigna- 
tion, ever ready to awaken at the first appearance of insult, 
took flame, and he lampooned without mercy the governor and 
bis new made secretary, in a copy of verses that were widely 
circulated. The rich deanery of Derry now fell vacant and 
Swift applied for it. Lord Berkeley said it had been promised 
to Bush for another, but that perhaps the affair might be 
arranged. Swift had an interview with the secretary, who 
frankly told him that he was to have a thousand pounds for 
it. Swift knew this could not be done without Lord 
Berkeley’s participation, and made do other answer than 
“ God confound you both for a couple of rascals Tic then 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


23 


left the castle, resolving to see him no more. Lord Berkeley 
was, however, unwilling to exasperate a person who could so 
successfully revenge himself, and he therefore presented him 
to the rectory of Agher, and the vicarage of Laracor and 
Rath-beggin, in the diocese of Meath. They were not worth, 
in value, one third of the deanery, but Swift had experienced 
sufficiently the uncertainty of courtly promises, to trust much 
to the chances of the future, he, therefore, accepted them, 
and kept on friendly terms with his lordship, one inducement 
to which was, the respect he felt for the Countess, whose vir- 
tues and excellencies he has praised in his introduction to the 
Project for the Advancement of Religion. 

It was at this time that his talenTln light and humorous 
poetry was first displayed, which he wrote for the amusement 
of his lordship’s family ; but when the government of Ireland 
devolved on another person, Swift retired to his living at Lar- 
acor, conscientiously discharging the duties of his office. It 
appears, from some letters which have found their way into 
the world, that he had been enamoured of a young lady of 
the name of Jane Waryng, sister of his chamber-fellow at col- 
lege. As she had a slender fortune of about £100 a year 
and Swift at that time was in possession of no certain income, 
her good sense and prudence made her resolve to delay their 
union till they were in possession of an income competent to 
their support. A letter from Swift dated April, 1696, is pub- 
lished, which is written in the usual style of a complaining 
lover, and which accuses his Yarina of formality and coldness 
and too great an observance of the customs and opinions of 
the . »Ie tells her, “ that he has resolved to die as he 


2 4 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


has lived — all hers ; and that matrimony is a just and honor- 
* able action, which would furnish health to her.” After he 
had obtained his preferment, which amounted to about .£400 
a year, Varina having her only objection removed, naturally 
looked forward to the fulfilment of their engagement ; but 
the fascination of a more attractive person had begun to show 
its influence over our faithless lover’s heart. A second letter 
appears, four years after the one montioned (May, 1700), in 
which there is a very remarkable alteration of style and 
address. It is written in the terms of one anxious to escape 
from a connection which he regrets ever to have formed. 
Every trifling excuse is found, and every imaginable impedi- 
ment introduced, and there are demands made by him, and 
expressions used, which put their union on a footing so 
humiliating to a lady, that certainly no female could for a 
moment have entertained the idea of acquiescing in such a 
proposal. Though I have had no experience in love myself, 
and am ignorant of the sensibilities and feelings of the female 
heart, yet I should think no lady could expect to be ques- 
tioned by her lover concerning the state of her health and the 
cleanliness of her person ; but the true cause of Swift’s declin- 
ing affections were now to be more clearly seen. 

Stella, for so Esther Johnson must hereafter be called, was 
now eighteen ; after the death of Sir W. Temple she resided 
with a lady of the name of Dingley, who was related to the 
family of Temple. Stella’s fortune consisted of one thousand 
pounds, bequeathed by Sir William, and Mrs. Dingley’s annu- 
ity was exceedingly small. When Swift, therefore, proposed 
to both the ladies to come over to Ireland to reside, where 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


25 


the interest of the money was greater, and the price of living 
much less, it is no wonder that the invitation was received 
with pleasure. Soon after the arrival they took a lodging at 
Trim, a town situated near Laracor, and their presence and 
conversation reconciled him to his obscure retirement. Of 
the softer and romantic qualities of the heart, which open the 
avenues of love, Swift was entirely devoid ; his mind was bent 
on higher objects, and interested in busier and more ambitious 
scenes. I have no doubt that he regarded the blooming and 
beautiful Stella with the most sincere friendship, and with 
something more than a brotherly fondness and affection ; but 
women turn everything into love. If Stella did not mistake 
the nature of Swift’s attachment, she did not consider the 
other passions of his mind which might oppose or weaken it ; 
of most men she would probably have judged rightly ; but 
unfortunately she had to speculate on the motives of a person 
eminently singular in his temper and thoughts, inclined 
to move out of the road which leads to general happiness, and 
to find one more congenial to his own disposition. There is 
a kind of attachment which it is not always easy to distinguish 
from love, and which is yet distinct from it ; either Stella’s 
want of sagacity could not even separate these, or her 
hopes and affections forced her to overlook the distinction. 
An event took place a year or two after this time, which we 
might conjecture would one way or another have brought 
Swift’s feelings to a decision, and cleared up all the past 
ambiguity of his conduct. Stella received an offer of mar- 
riage from the Rev. Dr. Tisdall, a friend and companion of 
Swift’s, Swift was, of course, consulted by her, and, we may 

2 


26 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


suppose, with no common anxiety as to the result of his 
opinion. That he could not wish the offer to be accepted 
must be obvious ; but the answer which he returned to Dr. 
Tisdall certainly left the field open to his solicitations ; he says, 
“ In answer, I will upon my honour and conscience, tell you 
the naked truth. If my fortunes and humour served me to 
think of that state, I should certainly, of all persons on earth, 
make your choice, because I never saw that person whose con- 
versation I entirely valued but hers. This was the utmost I 
ga,ve way to. And, secondly, I must assure you sincerely that 
this regard of mine never once entered into my head to be 
any impediment to you.” The proposal was, however, declined 
by Stella, doubtless from her great attachment to Swift, and 
her hopes of seeing her happiness confirmed by his marriage 
with her. “ Swift,” says Scott, “ maintained a long acquaint- 
ance with Tisdall without ever liking him, and he certainly 
felt rivalry in the case of Stella.” 

In 1701, Swift went to London, leaving his parish and his 
charming companions, in the hopes, it is said, of discovering 
some opportunity of distinguishing himself, and advancing 
his fortune. He found the public mind in a ferment, occa- 
sioned by the impeachment of the Earls of Portland and 
Oxford, Lord Somers and Lord Halifax, by the House of 
Commons, on account of their share in the Partition Treaty ; 
on this occasion he wrote his first political tract — “ A Dis- 
course of the Contests and Dissensions of Athens and Rome.” 
The name of the author was for some time unknown ; but on 
his return to Ireland, in the heat of conversation, Swift con 
fessed to Bishop Sheridan that he wrote it, while the Bishop 


LIFE OF S WIFT. 


27 


insisted that it was written by Burnet : this is said to be the 
only instance that Swift was ever known to have owned 
directly any piece of his that came in secrecy before the public. 

Early in the ensuing spring, King William died, and Swift, 
on his next visit to London, found Queen Anne upon the 
throne. The whigs had the whole administration of affairs 
within their hands, and they looked on Swift as a staunch 
adherent of their party; but he considered some of their 
measures dangerous and unconstitutional, and declined all the 
overtures which they anxiously made him. The principles 
on which he professed to act were too moderate to please any 
party, especially in a season of political excitement; more 
especially he differed with them in what he considered their 
indifference to the interests of the church. He described 
himself at this period, in his Verses to Ardelia (Mrs. Finch), 
as “ a whig, and one who wears a gown,” though a high 
church whig, as Scott observes, was a political character of 
which all parties refused to recognise the existence. He 
withdrew, therefore, again to his living, performed fully and 
exactly all the parochial duties of it. Once a year he visited 
his mother in Leicestershire, and occasionally mingled in the 
society of London. During those years he wrote little 
except his Meditations on a Broomstick, and the Critical 
Essay on the Faculties of the Mind. The former was a 
sportive imitation of the style in which Boyle’s Meditations 
are written ; and Swift gfavely read it to Lady Berkeley as a 
genuine effusion of that pious and learned author. 

Swift, at this time, was not acquainted with many authors 
of eminence. Congreve he had met at Sir William Temple’? 


28 


LIFE 01 SWIFT. 


and a ludicrous account is given of his first interview with 
Addison and Arbuthnot, at Button’s Coffee House. But he 
was soon to be brought into more general notice. In 1704, 
the celebrated Tale of a Tub was published. Though it 
appeared without a name, yet it had been often shown in 
manuscript at Sir W. Temple’s to his relatives and friends. 
Swift, with singular indifference to fame, had kept this piece 
by him for eight years after it had been completely finished. 
Of this book Dr. Johnson says, “ Charity may be persuaded 
to think that it might be written by a man of peculiar char- 
acter without ill intention ; but it is certainly of dangerous 
example.” When this wild work first roused the attention 
of the public, Sacheverell meeting Sraalridge, tried to flatter 
him, seeming to think him the author ; but Smalridge 
answered with indignation, — “Not all that you and I have 
in the world, nor all that we shall ever have, should hire me 
to write the Tale of a Tub.” There can be no doubt but 
that the offence given by this work proved to be the real bar 
which prevented Swift’s ever attaining an eminent situation in 
the church. The author hath reason (said Atterbury) to con- 
ceal himself, because of the profane strokes in that piece, 
which would do his reputation and interest in the world more 
harm than his wit can do him good. After the publication 
of this work, Swift wrote nothing of consequence for three oi 
four years. He formed, however, a very close connexion with 
Addison, which ripened into a sincere and lasting friendship. 
Swift considered his conversation to be the most agi eeable he 
ever met with ; and Addison appeal s to have thought most 
highly of the genius of Swift. 


Life of swift. 

In 1708, he published several pieces on religious and politi- 
cal subjects. “ The Argument against Abolishing < Christi- 
anity ” was allowed to be an admirable specimen of very suc- 
cessful irony. He wrote also the Sentiments of a Church of 
England Man, which was the cause of the first coolness 
between him and his original friends of the whig party. He 
had stated to Lord Somers that although he felt himself 
inclined to be a whig in politics, he was, as to clerical rights, 
a high churchman, and did not conceive how it was possible 
that one who wore the habit of a clergyman should not be so 
But all attempts at reconciling high church politics to whig 
principles soon appeared to be desperate ; and the interests 
of his order prevailed with Swift over his favor for the politi- 
cal principles of Somers and Godolphin. His letter on “ The 
Sacramental Test ” completed the alienation. He wrote also, 
The Sentiments of a Church of England Man (which was the 
cause of the first coolness between him and his original 
friends of the whig party) and the Ridicule of Astrology, 
under the name of Bickerstaff, and the Defence of the Sacra- 
mental Test. With regard to the last subject, Dr. Johnson 
rerparks, “ that the reasonableness of a test is not hard to be 
proved, but perhaps it must be allowed that the proper test 
has not been chosen.” The attention paid to the papers under 
the name of Bickerstaff induced Steele, when he projected 
the Tatler, to assume an appellation that had already gained 
possession of the reader’s notice. The object of the Church 
of England Man was one that has invariably failed as often as 
it has been tried, which was to moderate the violence of two 
contending parties, and to propose an intermediate ground on 


30 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


which they coaid meet ; he wished to drop the terms of high 
and low church, which were only calculated to keep up ani- 
mosity; “and to set down a just political and religious 
creed, so far as related to a connection between Church and 
State, as every honest subject of the Church of England must 
at once assent to.” 

The Whigs, who had narrowly escaped being turned out 
of office by the intrigues of Mr. Harley, and who had hitherto 
looked on Swift as an uncertain friend, who did not enter 
fully into their opinions, now coveted him, when they saw the 
great and various talents which he had displayed ; they were 
willing to make him their champion whom they dreaded as 
their enemy ; but Swift’s opinions „ were firm, and proof— 
against all solicitation : they therefore wished to remove him 
by giving him some honorable situation abroad ; a secretary- 
ship to the embassy at Vienna was mentioned ; and what to 
Swift would have been a far more desirable appointment, a 
scheme was on foot to make him Bishop of Virginia, with a 
general authority over all the clergy in the American colo- 
nies. 

In the year following, he wrote “A Project for the Ad- 
vancement of Religion,” addressed to Lady Berkeley. “ To 
this Project,” says Johnson, “ which is formed with just 
purity of intention, and displayed with sprightliness and ele- 
gance, it can only be objected, that like many projects, if not 
generally impracticable, it is yet evidently hopeless, as it 
supposes more zeal, concord, and perseverance, than a view 
of mankind gives reason for expecting.” Sheridan considers 
that the treatise had a political purpose, and that under the 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 3i 

appearance of disinterestedness inculcating the principles of 
religion and morality, it aimed at the destruction of the 
power of the Whigs. 

After the publication of this piece, Swift went to Ireland, 
where he remained till the following year, when the fall of 
the Whig ministry under Godolphin and Somers took place, 
and Mr. Harley and St. John came into power. He passed 
much of his time with Addison, secretary to the Earl of 
Wharton, then lord lieutenant. He was also requested by 
the bishops of Ireland to take on him the charge of soliciting 
a remission of the first fruits and tenths to the clergy of that 
kingdom. He took the office with reluctance, but his regard 
for the interest of the church outweighed all other considera- 
tions, and he set out for England as soon as his credentials 
were ready. It may be observed, in Swift’s correspondence 
with Archbishop King on this subject, how anxious he was 
that his friend Harley should have the merit of the grant to 
the clergy of Ireland; while the archbishop, not very partial 
to the new administration, was disposed to consider it as an 
act of the queen’s personal bounty. 

On his arrival in London, in September, 1700, Swift found 
that there was war declared between the two parties. There 
was no room for moderating measures ; and he was obliged, 
according to his own principles of action, to choose the side 
on which he would act. The Whigs would gladly have made 
sacrifices to secure him, but the good fortune of the Tories 
prevailed ; for Swift’s political opinions (as Scott observes) 
turned chiefly upon zeal for the interest of his order. “I 
should be terribly vexed,” he says in his Journal, “to see 


32 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


things come round again; it would ruin the church and thi 
clergy for ever.” He was also enraged at his cool reception 
from Lord Godolphin, which he revenged by his lampoon of 
Sid Hamet, read at Harley’s, October 15, 17 10, but not sus- 
pected to be Swift’s. It had immense success. 

Swift’s office of soliciting the remission of the first fruits 
led to interviews with Harley, and the minister did not lose 
the favourable opportunity. Swift, it appears, had long been, 
in his own mind, of the Tory side, and he only waited a con- 
venient juncture to declare himself. He was represented 
“ as one extremely ill-used by the last ministry.” Harley’s 
condescension flattered his pride ; his obliging behaviour 
secured his friendship ; accordingly, after he had inquired 
into their plans, and the measures which they meant to pur- 
sue, and found them agreeable to his own sentiments, he 
entered into their interest with his whole heart. He says i a 
his Journal, November 29, 1710, “The present ministry have* 
a difficult task, and want me. According to the best judg- 
ment I have, they are pursuing the true interest of the public, 
and, therefore, I am glad to contribute all that lies in my 
power.” His account of his interview with Lord Radnor, 
proves how zealous a partisan he was. The writers on both 
sides had already taken the field. Addison, Burnet, Steele, 
Congreve, and Rowe, were the leaders of the Whigs. For 
the Tories appeared Bolingbroke, Friend, Atterbury, and 
Prior. The latter had begun a paper called “ The Examiner,” 
to which they all contributed ; but as soon as Swift appeared, 
they gladly resigned the controversial flail into his powerful 
hands, who had returned from Ireland, stung with resentment 


LIFE OF S W I F T . 


33 


at the neglect which he had experienced from Lord Wharton, 
and burning with revenge upon the whole Whig party. 
Addison soon detected the new auxiliary, and retired from 
the field, though Dr. Johnson considers that his papers were 
superior to his antagonist’s. Swift’s first paper was published 
on the 2nd of November, 17 10, No. 13, which was little more 
than a month after his introduction to Harley, and he con- 
tinued them till June 7, 1711, when he closed it with No. 45, 
leaving it to be carried on by other hands. He was then on 
terms of entire intimacy with the whole ministry ; this he 
best preserved by a line of conduct, showing his independ** 
ence and self-respect. Harley sent him a bank-note of fifty 
pounds. Swift had the good sense and prudence to return it, 
and was not reconciled to the minister till he had let him 
know that he expected to be treated on a footing of entire*^ 
equality. One must feel a little surprise that Harley did not 
better understand the character of the person to whom this 
trifling remuneration was offered. 

The ministry had endeavoured to act upon a temporizing 
system. It stood, as Swift says, “ like an isthmus between the 
Whigs on one side, and the violent Tories on the other. 
They are able seamen, but the tempest is too great, the ship 
too rotten, and the crew all against them.” Hord Somers 
was seen more than once in the queen’s closet, and the 
Duchess of Somerset, an intriguing and insinuating woman, 
who had succeeded the Duchess of Marlborough, held the 
key. Again, he says, “ we are plagued with an October club, 
that is, a set of above one hundred parliament men of the 
county, who drink October beer at home, and meet ever) 

2 * 


34 - 


life OF SWIFT. 


evening at a tavern near the parliament, to consult on affairs, 
and drive things to extremes against the Whigs. The mino- 
rity is for gentle measures, and the other Tories for more 
violent.” But there were also divisions in the camp. Harley 
was reserved and mysterious in his conduct, and procrasti- 
\nating in his measures, and St. John, though a person of great 
spirit and energy, wasted much important time in his plea- 
sures and habits of dissipation. Swift expostulated, sometimes 
seriously, sometimes jocosely, with both. The Whig leaders 
he knew to be active and zealous, leaving nothing undone, 
v while his friends were remiss in their operations, and not 
— united in their counsels. Two points he thought of the 
utmost importance ; the one was, to put an end to the cabals 
of the October club, which threatened the most dangerous 
consequences to the ministry; the other was, to make a 
peace, without which he considered the ministry could not 
stand. The first point was accomplished without difficulty. 
He published a little pamphlet, called “ Some Advice to the 
Members of the October Club.” They were satisfied with 
the reasonings, and dropped their meetings. The affair of 
the peace was of greater difficulty, for the disposition of the 
nation was for war, and the ministry dared not even hint a 
desire to put an end to it. Swift, however, undertook the 
task, and drew up, in consequence, his famous political tract, 
called, “ The Conduct of the Allies.” It is said, that between 
November and January eleven thousand were sold : the object 
of it, as is well known, was to prove that the war was main- 
tained at a prodigious cost to us, solely through the avarice 
and ambition of Marlborough, and for the advantage of the 


LIFE OF SWIFT* 


35 


allies. Certain, it seems, that the ministry were indebted to 
Swift for their immediate preservation from a destruction^ 
which appeared inevitable, and for the solid establishment of 
their future power. He found time amid political engage- 
ments to publish a proposal for correcting, improving, and 
ascertaining the English Tongue, in a letter to the Earl of 
Oxford. The plan which he wished to institute for effecting 
this purpose, seems, if not absurd, at least exceedingly defec- 
tive ; as Swift possessed no knowledge of those ancient lan- 
guages, the parents of our own, which could alone safely 
guide him in his projected inquiries. The purity of a lan- 
guage will never be preserved by the laws of an academy, 
who themselves participate in the cause of its change, and 
who neither have power to effect its renewal, or delay its 
decline. 

This year, 1712, he published his reflections on the Barrier 
Treaty, showing how little regard had been shown in that 
negotiation to the interest of England, and how much had 
been claimed by the Dutch. This was followed by “ Remarks 
on the Bishop of Sarum’s Introduction to the third volume 
of the History of the Reformation.” Sheridan thinks highly 
of the humour and argument of these two pamphlets: he 
says, “ This distinguishes Swift’s political tracts from all 
others — that these were written for a day, his for perpetuity. 
They borrowed their chief merit from circumstances and 
times, he from the immensity of his genius. Their chief value 
arose from fashion, his from weight.” Certainly Swift brought 
greater vigour of thought, richness of humour, variety of 


36 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


fancy, and pungency of satire to bear upon political disquisi- 
tions than any writer of his day. 

In 17 13 the printer, Barker, was prosecuted by the House 
ol Lords for “ The Public Spirit of the Whigs,” a pamphlet 
written in answer to a tract of Sir Richard Steele’s, called 
“ The Crisis.” All the Scotch Lords then in London went to 
the Queen and complained of the affront put on them and 
their nation by the author ; upon which a proclamation was 
published by her majesty, offering a reward of three hundred 
pounds to discover him. Lord Oxford sent Swift a letter, 
written in a counterfeit hand, inclosing a hundred pound bill, 
to meet the expenses of the case. 

The ministry were not unmindful of the great benefits 
which he had conferred upon them; but they found many 
serious obstacles in their way, when they attempted to reward 
him in the only manner which he deserved, by a suitable and 
dignified preferment in the church. The Duchess of Somerset 
returned Swift’s hatred with interest; when he was recom- 
mended to a bishopric (the See of Hereford) she prevailed on 
Sharpe, the Archbishop of York, to oppose it, who advised the 
Queen, “ That her majesty should be sure that the man whom 
she was going to make a Bishop, was a Christian.” When 
asked for reasons to support his insinuations, he could only 
suppose that Swift was the author of the Tale of a Tub. But 
the Duchess had stronger arguments and better influence. 
She went to the Queen, with tears in her eyes, and throwing 
herself on her knees, presented that bitter copy of verses 
which Swift had written against her, called the Windsor 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


3 ? 


Prophecy. The Queen shared in the resentment of her 
favourite, and the Bishopric was bestowed on another. 

After many difficulties and much procrastination, arising 
from the Queen’s dislike to bestow any preferment in England 
on Swift, and from Lord Oxford’s unwillingness to part with 
him, in April 1713 the Deanery of St. Patrick was obtained 
for him, worth about seven hundred a year, and which he pro- 
fessed to consider only as an honourable exile. Swift was 
anxious for preferment in England, but it could not be 
obtained; and in June he set out, in no very good humour, 
for Ireland, to be installed. He had intended to remain some 
time, but after having passed through the necessary forms, he 
was recalled to England, to prevent by his efforts a rupture 
between his friends, Lord Oxford and Bolingbroke.^ He also 
applied himself to the finishing the History of the Peace of 
Utrecht, which he put into the hands of Lord Oxford and 
Bolingbroke for publication. Scarcely had he a second time 
returned to his deanery, than he was urgently sent for on the 
same hopeless errand of reconciling persons between whom 
there seemed to exist no cordiality or mutual esteem. This 
effort was as fruitless as the former, and Swift, after the most 
unavailing conference, returned to the house of his friend, 
Mr. Geary, at Letcomb ; there he composed his Pamphlet, 
called “ Some free Thoughts upon the present State of 
Affairs;” 1 in which the system of Tory government recom- 
mended is as daring, dangerous, and unconstitutional, as was 
ever advanced by a party-writer. He charges the ministers 
as the chief causes of the reigning disorders, and lays the 
* greatest load of blame upon the man he loved best in the 


38 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 

y 

woi Id, Lord Oxford. It is said, that he believed both Lord 
Oxford and Bolingbroke were now more engaged in advanc- 
ing their schemes of personal ambition, than anxious to dis- 
charge their duties to the public; and his object was to 
alarm their fears with the probability of their being deserted, 
both by their party and their Queen. The death of the latter, 
however, put a stop to the publication of his work. Swift’s 
prospects of advancement or ambition, if he ever entertained 
any, were suddenly and permanently closed; and having 
nothing more to do in England, he returned to his deanery, 
where he resided for many years. It may be proper in this 
place to mention, that during the time when Swift possessed 
influence over the ministry, he exercised it with most disin- 


\ 


terested zeal to promote the advancement of men of genius 


and talent, who were directly opposed to him in politics. Ir 
his journal he says “ I have taken more pains to recommend 
the Whig wits to the favour and mercy of the ministers, that 
any other people. Steele I have kept in his place. Congreve 
I have got to be used kindly, and secured. Rowe I have 
recommended, and got a promise of a place. Philips I should 
certainly have provided for, if he had not run party mad, and 
made me withdraw my recommendations. I set Addison so 
right at first, that he might have been employed, and have 
permanently secured him the place he has, yet I am worse 
\ised by that faction than any man.” He says, in a letter to 
Lady Betty Germaine, “ When I had credit for some years at 
. Court, I provided for above fifty people in both kingdoms, of 
which not one was a relation.” He procured the rectory of 
St. Andrew, Holborn, for Sacheverell, though he held him in 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


39 


no estimation, from a principle of justice, as be had ren- 
dered assistance to the ministry, who had appeared to neglect 
him. 

On Swift’s return to Ireland, he found the minds of per- 
sons in the highest ferment, and the Whigs triumphant. The 
stories fabricated in England that the late ministry designed 
to bring in the Pretender, were believed, and Tory and Jaco- 
bite were used as synonymous terms. Swift became the chief ^ 
object on whom party vengeance vented its rage. He was 
insulted and even pelted by the populace in the streets ; and 
the higher classes endeavoured to earn the favour of the gov- 
ernment by treating him with insult : he drew up a petition 
to the House of Lords against the brutal and dangerous con- 
duct of Lord Blaney. In such a situation of affairs, the most 
prudent and wise part was chosen by him, of retiring to his 
deanery, arranging his domestic affairs, and discharging the 
duties of his situation. In a letter, dated Jan. 10, 1721, he 
tells Pope, “ In a few weeks after the loss of that excellent 
princess, I came to my station here, where I have continued 
ever since in the greatest privacy and utter ignorance of 
those events which are most commonly talked of in the world. 

I neither know the names nor the number of the family 
which now reigneth, further than the prayer book informeth 
me. I cannot tell who is chancellor, who are secretaries, 
nor witE what nations we are at peace or war. And this 
manner of life was not taken up out of any sort of affecta- 
tion, but merely to avoid giving offence, and for fear of pro- 
voking party zeal.” And in a letter to Gay he gives the fol 
lowing account of himself. “ I would describe to you my 


40 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


way of living, if any method could be called so in this 
country. I choose my companions among those of the least 
'Vjonsequence and most compliance. I read the most trifling 
books I can find, and when I write, it is upon the most trifling 
subjects ; but riding, sleeping, walking, take up eighteen out 
of the twenty-four hours. I procrastinate more than I did 
twenty years ago, and have several things to finish which I 
put off to twenty years hence.” In this manner he passed 
seven years of his life after his return to Ireland. He culti- 
vated the acquaintance of a few persons whose society was 
agreeable to him. He enjoyed the conversation and company 
of Stella ; and in his friend Dr. Sheridan he found one who 
could return alike his friendship and his wit. He maintained 
a correspondence with his former friends in England, with 
Lord Bolingbroke, Harley, Addison, Pope, Prior and Arbuth- 
not: with the Duchess of Ormond and Lady Bolingbroke. 
When Oxford was committed to the Tower, Swift wrote 
pressingly to him to be permitted to attend him there. His 
letter begins thus : “ My Lord, it may look like an idle 01 
officious thing in me to give your lordship any interruption 
under your present circumstances. Yet I could never forgive 
myself, if, after having been treated for several years with the 
greatest kindness and distinction by a person of your lord- 
ship’s virtue, I should omit making you at this time the 
humblest offers of my poor services and attendance. It is the 
first time I ever solicited you on my own behalf, and if I am * 
refused, it will be the first request you ever refused me.” 

Lord Oxford immediately on his release wrote him a lettei 
breathing the warmest affection ; and Bolingbroke helped to 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


41 


solace the hours of his exile, by recalling to Swift the happy 
hours they had formerly enjoyed together. 

Two tracts were drawn up by him about this time : the 
one, written in 1714, Memoirs relating to that change which 
happened in the Queen’s ministry in the year 1710. The 
other, An Inquiry into the behaviour of the Queen’s last minis- 
try, with relation to their quarrels among themselves, and the 
design charged upon them of altering the succession of the 
crown. The main object of these works was to exonerate the 
ministry from the charge so confidently brought against them 
of a design to bring in the Pretender. They were drawn up 
without any view to publication, but were intended as calm 
appeals to posterity in favour of his injured friends. 

In the year 1710, when the ferment of political madness 
seemed to have subsided, he published his first tract relative 
to Ireland, entitled, A Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish 
Manufactures ; the object was to give a stimulus to the trade 
of Ireland, which was in a state of depression, by persuading 
the people to wear their own manufactures, instead of those 
from England, and by showing them that a great part of 
their poverty and distress was owing to their own folly. But 
those who had an interest in the English trade took the 
alarm ; the proposal was deemed seditious, the printer was 
imprisoned, and the undue severi ty and suspicion of the Gov- 
ernment secured the popularity of the author. 

In the year 1724, a circumstance took place, which gave 
Swift an influence in Ireland, that no one probably has ever 
equally possessed. A person of the name of William Wood, 
of Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a great proprietor and 




42 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


renter of iron works in England, obtained a patent, empower 
ing him to coin one hundred and eighty thousand pounds 
worth of half-pence and farthings for the Kingdom of Ireland, 
in which, at that time, there was a very inconvenient scarcity 
of copper coin, so that it was possible to run in debt on the 
credit of a piece of money ; for a tradesman could not refuse 
to supply a man who had silver in his hand, and the pur- 
chaser would not leave his money without change. Sheridan 
says, that no one in Ireland was consulted on the subject, nor 
was any previous notice given to the Lord Lieutenant. The 
old oopper coin was gathered up, it is said, by Wood’s agents, 
and the new treasures were ready to be poured into the chan- 
nels of trade, but it was boldly asserted that the coin was 
deba&ed to an enormous degree ; and Swift wrote his Dra- 
per’s Letters for the purpose of showing the folly of receiving 
a coinage not worth perhaps a third of its nominal value. 
Swift did not deny that Ireland wanted half-pence, and silver, 
and gold, but he alleges “ the fraudulent obtaining and execu- 
ting of the patent, the baseness of the metal, and the prodi- 
gious sum to be coined, which might be increased by stealth 
from foreign importations, and his own counterfeits, as well 
as those at home; whereby we most infallibly lose all out 
little gold and silver, and all our poor remainder of a very 
limited and discouraged trade.” He urged that the patent was 
passed without the least reference to either and without mention 
of any security given by Wood, to receive his own half-pence 
on demand, both which were contrary to all former proceed 
ings in like cases. “Foi my own part (he adds) who am bu 
one man of obscure condition, I do solemnly declare, in the 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


43 


presence of Almighty God, that I will suffer the most igno- 
minious and torturing death, rather than submit to receive 
this accursed coin, or any other that shall be liable to the 
6ame objections, until they shall be forced upon me by a law 
of my own country ; and if that shall ever happen, I will trans- 
port myself into some foreign land, and eat the bread of poverty 
among a free people.” 

The facts of the case appear to be these. The emoluments 
arising from the disposal of the patent were given by Lord 
Sunderland to the Duchess of Kendal, who sold it to Wood. 
The Duke of Bolton, then lord-lieutenant, had neither courage 
nor inclination to bring this embarrassing project forward ; but 
the Duke of Grafton, who succeeded him, promised to support 
it. Walpole, on succeeding Sunderland, saw the difficulties, 
but yielded. When the Duke of Grafton arrived in Ireland, 
lie found a general dislike to the measure. Lord Middleton, 
Chancellor of Ireland, opposed it strongly : a personal quarrel 
had arisen between him and the Duke of Grafton, which was 
fermented by the acts of Carteret, who was intriguing for 
Walpole’s removal. The boasting and threatening conduct 
of Wood was indiscreet; and the misconduct of Government 
much greater. The patent passed without the lord-lieutenant 
or the privy-council being consulted. Walpole suffered the 
duke to depart without sufficient instructions how he was to 
act. In the mean time the dissensions spread, and factious 
intrigues increased the embarrassments. The Duke of Graf- 
ton was recalled, and Lord Carteret succeded him ; but as he 
had, from desire to supplant Walpole, promoted the opposi 
tion to the introduction of the coin, the part he had to play 


44 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


became doubly difficult bis hopes lay in winning over Lord 
Middleton ; in this he failed, and th& patent was surrendered 
It appears, on a candid consideration of the subject, that the 
project would have been advantageous ; but the real subject 
of dispute was not so much the coinage itself, as that Wood’s 
patent being forced upon the people of Ireland was a death 
blow to the independence of the kingdom. This was the real 
foundation of Swift’s opposition, though the nature of the 
controversy made it necessary that he should veil it undei 
specific objections to Wood’s scheme, rather than engage in 
a dangerous discussion upon the abstract question of the 
independence of the kingdom of Ireland. When he did 
venture on this argument in his fourth letter, the arm of gov- 
ernment was immediately uplifted to strike. 

On Lord Carteret’s arrival in Ireland, which took place 
long before the usual time, a proclamation was published, 
ottering the reward of three hundred pounds for the discovery 
of the author of the fourth Drapier’s Letter. Harding, the 
printer, was imprisoned, and a bill of indictment ordered to 
be prepared against him. Swift wrote* a short paper, called, 
“ Seasonable Advice to the Grand Jury,” copies of which were 
distributed to every person of the Jury before the bill, and 
had such an effect, that it was unanimously thrown out. The 
Lord Chief Justice Whitshed discharged the jury in a rage ; 
but the next that was summoned drew up a strong present- 
ment supporting the opinions advanced in the Drapier’s Let- 
ters, in language decisive and strong. This was followed by 
several others, in various counties ; the affair was looked on 
as desperate, the patent withdrawn, and the coinage sup- 


LIFT OF SWIFT. 


45 


pressed. Never was greater exultation displayed upon any 
occasion than appeared in the whole nation on the defeat of 
this project. The Drapier was hailed by universal voice as 
the saviour of his country. His name resounded through 
every quarter of the island ; his picture was set up in every 
street, and bumpers to his health were poured down every 
throat. 

In the course of these writings, Swift took the opportunity 
of laying open his political principles, declaring his most 
zealous attachment to the Protestant succession in the house 
of Hanover, and his abhorrence of the Pretender ; by which 
means he removed the prejudice against him of being a 
Jacobite, and secured the favour of the people. During the 
publication of the Letters, Swift took great pains to conceal 
himself from being known as the author. The only persons 
in the secret were Robert Blakely, his butler, whom he 
employed as his amanuensis, and Dr. Sheridan. As Robert 
was a most accurate transcriber, the copies were always deliv- 
ered by him to the doctor, in order to their being corrected 
and fitted for the press ; by whom they were conveyed to the 
printer in such a way as to prevent the possibility of discovery. 
It happened that Blakely, the very evening of the day on 
which the proclamation was issued, offering a reward of three 
hundred pounds for discovering the author of the Drapier’s 
fourth letter, had staid out .ater than usual without his mas- 
ter’s leave. The dean ordered the door to be locked at the 
accustomed hour, and shut him out. The next morning the 
poor fellow appeared before him with marks of great contrition, 
when Swift would listen to none of bis excuses, but abused 


46 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


him outrageously, bade him strip off his livery, and quit his 
house that moment : “ What, you villain,” said he, “ is it 
because I am in your power, you dare take these liberties ? 
Get out of my house, you scoundrel, and receive the reward 
of your treachery.” Mrs. Johnson, who was at the deanery, 
and greatly alarmed at this scene, immediately dispatched a 
messenger to Dr. Sheridan to come and try to make up mat- 
ters. Upon his arrival, he found Robert walking about the 
hall in great agitation, and shedding abundance of tears. 
Inquiring into the cause of this, he was told that his master 
had just discharged him. The doctor bade him to be of good 
cheer, for he would undertake to pacify the dean, and that he 
should be still continued in his place. “ That is not who.” 
vexes me,” replied Robert; “to be sure, I should be ver) 
sorry to lose so good a master ; but what grieves me to the 
soul is, that my master should have so bad an opinion of me 
as to suppose me capable of betraying him for any reward 
whatever.” When this was told to the dean, struck with ths 
generosity of such a sentiment, in one of his low sphere, he 
immediately pardoned him, and restored him to his favour ; 
he also took the first opportunity of rewarding him for his 
fidelity. The place of Verger to the cathedral becoming 
vacant, Swift called Robert to him, and asked him if he had 
any clothes of his own that were not a livery, to which ffie 
other replying in the affirmative, he desired him to strip off 
his livery and put on those clothes. The poor fellow begged 
to know what crime he had committed, that he should bo 
discharged. “ Well, do as I ordered you,” said Swift. 
When he returned in his new dress, the dean called the olher 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


47 


servants into the room, and told them they were no longer to 
consider him as their fellow- servant Robert, but as Mr. Blakely, 
verger of St. Patrick’s cathedral, which place he had bestowed 
on him as a reward of his faithful services. Robert, however, 
continued to officiate, at his own request, in his own situation, 
without receiving any wages. 

Another anecdote, connected with the subject of the Dra- 
pier’s Letters, I will give from Dr. Sheridan’s Life, as briefly 
as I can. The day after the proclamation there was a levee 
at the castle ; the Lord Lieutenant was going the round of 
the circle, when Swift entered, and pushing his way through 
the crowd, with great indignation, and with the voice of a 
Stentor, cried out, “ So, my Lord Lieutenant, this is a glori- 
ous exploit that you performed yesterday, in issuing a procla- 
mation against a poor shopkeeper, whose only crime is an 
honest endeavour to save his country from ruin. You have 
given a noble specimen of what this devoted nation is to hope 
for from your government. I suppose you expect a statue of 
copper will be erected to you for this service done to Wood.” 
For some time a silence ensued, for the whole assembly was 
struck mute with wonder, when Lord Carteret, who had lis- 
tened with great composure to the whole speech, replied in a 
line of Virgil : 

Res duae, et regni no vitas me talia cogunt 

Moliri. 

Every one was struck with the beauty of the quotation, and 
the levee broke up in good humour ; some extolling the mag- 
nanimity of Swift to the shies, and all delighted with the 
ingenuity of the Lord Lieutenant’s answer. 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


4S 


Leaving Swift now in the height of his popularity, we 
must go back to relate some circumstances of a less favourable 
character, that had a great influence on his private life, and 
which have unfortunately, continued to throw a cloud over 
his fame. It will be recollected, that Miss Esther Johnson 
continued to reside near Swift, in Ireland ; that she formed 
part of his daily society at the deanery ; that there seemed 
the most unreserved communication between them, though 
guarded by a strict propriety of conduct. Swift never saw 
her, but in the company of Mrs. Dingley, or of some third 
person ; yet Stella, while she submitted to this singular 
arrangement, was not satisfied with it ; nor can it be wondered 
at, that she expected to be united in a closer tie than that 
of a mere friend, and that she languished under the extraor 
dinary procrastination of her hopes. 

During his residence in England, Swift lived among the 
higher circles of society, and was admired for the brilliancy 
of his wit, the extent of his knowledge, and the richness and 
variety of his conversational talents. He was admitted into 
the company of some of the most distinguished ladies of the 
time ; Lady Betty Germaine, Mrs. Barton, the Countess of 
Winchelsea, the Duchess of Ormond, and Lady Masham, 
ranked him among their friends. Among the families in 
London, where he was most intimate, was that of Mrs. Van- 
homrigh, a widow lady of fortune and respectability, who 
had two sons and two daughters ; the elder was Esther, bet- 
ter known by the poetical appellation of Venessa; of her 
personal charms we are left in some uncertainty ; Lord Orrery 
says she was not handsome, but she was lively and graceful, 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


49 


and fond of books. Swift eagerly offered to direct her in her 
choice of studies ; this led to still further familiarity with the 
family, and the acquaintance with the fascinating Esther at 
length gave pain and uneasiness to Stella. Swift was fully 
conscious of the dangerous ground on which he stood ; for in 
his Journal to Stella, Miss Vanhomrigh is only casually men- 
tioned twice, at the time that he was in habits of the most 
frequent communication with her. In the meanwhile, in the 
bosom of his fascinating pupil, esteem and gratitude ripened 
into love ; she was unacquainted with the peculiar situation 
in which Swift stood as related to another, and she was igno 
rant of the claims, perhaps even of the name of Stella. In a 
manner suitable to the warmth and openness of her temper, 

she avowed to Swift the state of her affections. “We can- 
» 

not doubt,” (says Scott) that he actually felt the shame, dis- 
appointment, guilt, and surprise,” expressed in his celebra- 
ted poem, though he had not the courage to take the 
open and manly course of acknowledging his engagements 
with Stella, or other impediments which prevented him from 
accepting the hand and fortune of her rival. Perhaps he was 
conscious that such an explanation had been too long 
delayed to be now stated, without affording grounds for the 
heavy charges of having flattered Miss Vanhomrigh into 
hopes which, from the nature of his own situation, could not 
be gratified. This remorseful consciousness too, he might feel 
when looking back on his conduct, though, until then he had 
blindly consulted his own gratification in seeking the pleasure 
of Vanessa’s society, without being aware of the difficulties in 
which they were both becoming gradually entangled. With- 

3 


50 


LIFE OF SWI FT. 


out making, therefore, this painful but just confession, he 
answered the avowal of V anessa’s passion at first in raillery, 
and afterwards by an offer of devoted and everlasting friend- 
ship, founded on the basis of virtuous esteem. Vanessa seems 
neither to have been contented nor silenced by the result of 
her declaration, but to the very close of her life persisted in 
endeavouring, by entreaties and arguments, to extort a more 
lively return to her passion than this cold proffer was calcula- 
ted to afford. It is difficult to ascertain when this eclaircisse- 
ment took place, but it seems to have preceded Swift’s depar- 
ture for Ireland to take possession of his Deanery, though it 
must certainly have been made after obtaining that prefer- 
ment. 

The effect of Swift’s increasing intimacy with Vanessa 
may be plainly traced in the altered language of the Journal. 
It becomes colder and more indifferent, speaks less of the 
happiness of a life devoted to Stella, and exhibits all the marks 
of a declining affection. The fears of love are soon excited, 
and it is difficult to escape its penetration. Stella soon 
was aware that there was a rival in his affections, and rumours 
brought to Ireland increased her alarm. Her letters are not 
preserved, but it appears from the Journal that they intimated 
displeasure and jealousy which Swift endeavoured to appease. 
There are two passages, as Scott observes, worthy of notice, as 
illustrating of the situation of the parties and of Swift’s inten- 
tions. The first occurs when he obtains the deanery of St. 
Patrick’s. “ If it be worth £400 per year,” he says, the 
overplus shall be divided — besides usual ” — an imperfect 
phrase, which, however, implies, that his relation to Stella was 


LIFE OF SWIFT, 


51 


to continue on its former footing, and that she was only to 
share the advantage of his promotion by an increase of her 
separate income. This hint was probably designed to bar 
any expectations of a proposal of marriage. Another omi- 
nous sentence in the Journal, is in the following intimation : 
“His (Mr. Vanhomrigh’s) eldest daughter is come of age, 
and going to Ireland to look after her fortune, and get it into 
her own hands.” This plan, which she afterwards accom- 
plished, boded no good to the unfortunate Stella. 

Upon Swift’s return to Ireland, he was placed in a situa- 
tion of much embarrassment, arising from his thoughtless 
encouragement of Vanessa’s feelings, while Stella possessed 
an undoubted claim over the affections of his heart. It is 
difficult to find that peculiar word of censure which should 
apply with exactness to Swift’s conduct in this unfortunate 
affair, because he acted on principles so extremely different 
from those which govern the generality of mankind. In 
ordinary cases his conduct would be deemed dishonourable in 
disappointing the just expectations, and sporting with the 
feelings of two amiable and virtuous women. But Swift, as 
he never designed marriage himself, certainly never gave, 
except by what they might infer from attention of behaviour, 
and perhaps tenderness of language, any ground upon which 
their reasonable hopes might be founded. They appear to 
have erred, in not having more accurately understood his 
character, and his designs ; while he was far more decidedly 
wrong in endeavouring to divert the warm and natural pas. 
sions of the female heart, into the cold and selfish channels in 
which his own reposed ; his object was to gain them as 


« 


52 LIFE OF SWIFT. 

friends ; theirs was to possess him as a lover and a husband. 
That Swift was greatly to blame, no doubt can be entertained, 
and the errors of his conduct in this affair brought on a great 
part of the future misery of his life. Of all criminal intentions 
he was, in this instance, as in the whole conduct of his life, 
totally guiltless; but he knew that he passed beyond the 
grounds of honourable and upright conduct ; he allowed the 
new fascinations of Miss Vanhomrigh’s society to eclipse the 
familiar power of pleasing which Stella had long possessed ; 
and when he all but suppressed the name of Vanessa 
while he poured out upon other subjects the most unreserved 
communication in his Journal to Stella, he at once stamps the 
seal on the unfaithfulness and duplicity of his own conduct. 

On her mother’s death, Vanessa and her sister, who were 
left joint executrixes, retired to Ireland to look after the pro- 
perty which their father had left them near Celbridge. Their 
arrival in Dublin excited the jealousy of Stella, and the 
apprehensions of Swift ; an intimacy like theirs which had 
passed over without harm in England, might now have in- 
jured the reputation of both. The Dean expostulated in vain 
with her on her imprudence, and she in return accused him 
of cruelty and neglect. Her letters of love and complaint are 
full of the warmest sentiments and the most enamoured lan- 
guage. Swift saw the gulf he had so insensibly and incau- 
tiously been approaching ; yet it was too late to retreat ; all 
that was left was to temporize, and trust to time and chance 
to remedy or alleviate the perils which were beyond the 
power of prudence to avert. 

The correspondence, now for the first time given entire 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


53 


will afford a satisfactory elucidation of the subject. It com- 
mences on the part of Swift in a vein of light, jocular pleasan- 
try. Vanessa writes at once from the heart. Swift parries 
this for some time in his odd bantering vein ; till as Vanessa’s 
impatience increases he subsides into a guarded, half apologi- 
zing, half upbraiding strain, evidently intended to prevent any 
warmer expostulations, and to stop any nearer approach. 
When the letter at length came, containing the most innocent 
but the most passionate avowal of love, and opening the 
recesses of her ingenuous, affectionate, and devoted heart ; then 
the long fabricated artifices of Swift were baffled, his plan of 
retaining her love without returning it, was at once defeated ; 
he could no longer plead his ignorance of her feelings ; and 
the remainder of his correspondence consists of paltry excuses, 
cruel evasions and palliating falsehoods. The situation into 
which his selfishness had brought him, must have been one of 
agony and remorse; and his poor Vanessa sank into her early 
grave, the broken hearted victim of an attachment most sin- 
gularly unfortunate. 

In the meanwhile the health of his early and constant 
friend, his affectionate Stella, was rapidly declining. Jeal- 
ousy, neither unreasonable nor dishonourable, was secretly 
preying upon her. She had sacrificed for Swift all but her 
virtuo and her honour, — her youth had faded away amidst 
hopes and wishes that were unfulfilled : and she had the mis- 
fortune to be conscious that even her reputation was clouded, 
while her conduct was irreproachable. Swift felt deeply and 
bitterly the melancholy and fatal results of his capricious and 
inconsiderate conduct. He employed the Bishop of Clogher 


\ 


54 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


his tutor and early friend, to enquire the cause of Stella’* 
melancholy ; and he received the very answer which he could 
have anticipated : “ Her sensibility to his late indifference and 
to the discredit which her character had sustained from the 
dubious and mysterious connection between them.” To con- 
vince her of the constancy of his affection, and to remove her 
beyond the reach of calumny, there was but one remedy. To 
this Swift replied, that he had formed two resolutions with 
regard to matrimony. One, that he would not marry till pos- 
sessed of a competent fortune — the other, that the event 
should take place at a time of life which gave him a reasona- 
ble prospect to see his children settled in the world. The 
independence he proposed he had not yet achieved, and on 
the other hand he was past that time of life after which he 
had determined never to marry. It may be observed, that 
Swift undoubtedly had a right to lay down these or any other 
rules for the regulation of his own conduct, and the supposed 
safe-guard of his happiness ; but these very rules obliged him 
to act with great circumspection and caution in his intercourse 
with females; and not to keep his maxims of prudence in 
reserve while he was engaging the affections of the artless and 
the inexperienced by a tenderness and gallantry that were 
the forerunners, according to their ideas, of more intimate 
and lasting connections. Swift, however, made one concession, 
the least that could be granted, and of itself an imperfect reme- 
dy of the evils that he had caused. 

To these terms, so inferior to what she had a right to ex- 
pect, Stella subscribed ; yet something was gained by the 
unwilling and almost degrading concession ; her former inti 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


51 ) 


luacy with Swift, though free from guilt, was, in the opinion 
of society, improper and unusual ; on this point her con- 
science was now at rest ; and she had also disarmed the 
superior attractions of her rival of their fatal power. She 
w'as married in the garden of the deanery, by the Bishop of 
Ologher, in the year 1716. 

Immediately after the ceremony, Swift’s state of mind was 
very unhappy. Delany says, that about the time his union 
took place, he observed Swift to be exceeding gloomy and 
agitated, so much so that he went to Archbishop King to 
mention his apprehensions; on entering the library, Swift 
rushed out with a countenance of distraction, and passed 
him without speaking. He found the Archbishop in tears, ’ 
and upon asking the reason, he said, “ You have just met tlie 
most unhappy man upon earth, but on the subject of his 
wretchedness you must never ask a question.” Delany’s infer- 
ence from these words was, that Swift, after his union, had 
discovered too near a consanguinity between Stella and him- 
self, to admit of their being united in matrimony ; and that 
in fact, both of them were the illegitimate children of Sir W. 
Temple. This, however, seems to be a most gratuitous as- 
sumption, resting on no reasonable grounds whatever. 

Swift’s intercourse with Stella and Mrs. Dingley continues 
to be as guarded and cautious as before. To Stella it brought 
the same inconveniencies ; her acquaintance with ladies was 
formal and ceremonious, and her only intimacies were the 
male persons of Swift’s acquaintance ; a lady now alive, who 
was the friend of Mrs. Delany, says, “ that Stella went with 
Mrs. Dingley to Dr. Delany’s Villa on Wednesdays, where his 


55 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


men companions dined, before he was married to my friend 
She (Mrs. Delauy) once saw her by accident, and was struck 
with the beauty of her countenance, and particularly with her 
fine dark eyes. She was very pale, and looked pensive, but 
not melancholy, and her hair as black as a raven.” 

After his marriage Swift seems to have redoubled his anx- 
iety to moderate the passion of Vanessa, and even to direct it 
into another channel. He introduced to her Dean Winter, 
as a candidate for her hand, but she rejected the proposal in 
peremptory terms. She was also addressed, equally without 
success, by Dr. Price, afterwards Archbishop of Cashell. At 
length, in the year 171*7, she retired from Dublin to her pro- 
perty near Celbridge, to nurse her hapless passion in seclusion 
from the world. Swift, with great anxiety and tenderness of 
expression, endeavoured to warn her against a plan so little 
likely to be successful, and exhorted her to seek general 
society, to divert her mind in every way she could, and even 
to leave Ireland for other scenes. Until the year 1720, he 
never visited her at Celbridge ; but in that year, and down to 
the time of her death, he went repeatedly there to see her. 
A correspondent of Sir Walter Scott’s has given some minute 
particulars attending Vanessa’s habits of life, and Swift’s visits. 
“ Marley Abbey (he says) near Celbridge, where Miss Van- 
horn righ resided, is built much in the form of a real cloister, 
especially in its external appearance. An aged man (upwards 
of 90 by his own account) showed the grounds to my 
correspondent. lie was the son of Mrs. Vanhorn righ’s gar- 
dener, and used to work with his father in the garden when a 
boy. He remembered the unfortunate Vanessa well, and his 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


^ 57 


account of her corresponded with the usual description of 
her person, especially as to her embonpoint. He said sh« 
went seldom abroad, and saw little company ; her constant 
amusement was reading, or walking in the garden. Yet, 
according to this authority, her society was courted by seve- 
ral families in the neighbourhood, who visited her, notwith- 
standing her seldom returning that attention, and he added, 
that her manners interested every one who knew her. But 
she avoided company, and was always melancholy, save when 
Swift was there, and then she seemed happy. The garden 
was to an uncommon degree crowded with laurels. The old 
man said, that when Miss Yanhomrigh expected the Dean, 
she always planted with her own hand a laurel or two against 
his arrival. He showed her favorite seat, still called Vanessa’s 
bower ; three or four trees and some laurels indicate the spot. 
They had formerly, according to the old man’s information, 
been trained into a close arbour. There were two seats and 
a rude table within the bower, the opening of which com- 
manded a view of the Liffey, which had a romantic effect ; 
and there was a small cascade that murmured at some 
distance. In this sequestered spot, according to the gar- 
dener’s account, the Dean and Vanessa used often to sit with 
books and writing materials on the table before them. 

Vanessa, besides indulging her melancholy and hopeless pas* 
sion, had another sorrow in her solitude, that of nursing the 
declining health of her younger sister, who at length died 
about 1720. Her affections seemed now concentrated with 
double energy in her love ; while Swift, with his usual cir- 
cumspection, became more reserved than he had been in hi? 

3 * 


58 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


visits ; at length Miss Vanhorn righ, irritated by a long endu- 
rance of ill-requited love, was determined to discover its 
causes, and either to remove or realize the suspicions she 
had formed. Her thoughts naturally turned to the intimacy 
between Swift and Mrs. Johnson; in a letter written in 1713, 
she says, “ If you are very happy, it is ill natured of you not 
to tell me so, except ’tis what is inconsistent with mine.” She 
accordingly ventured on the decisive step of writing to Mrs. 
Johnson, requesting to know the nature of her connection 
with the Dean. Stella informed her, in her reply, of the mar- 
riage ; and, full of resentment against Swift, for having given 
to another female the right to put a question which seemed 
to involve a claim as strong as her own, she retired to the 
house of Mr. Ford, near Dublin. Swift, in a paroxysm of 
fury, rode to Marley Abbey ; his countenance, as he entered 
v the room, struck Vanessa with terror. He flung a letter on 
the table, and instantly mounting his horse, returned to Dub- 
lin. When Vanessa opened the packet, she only found her 
own letter to Stella ; this was the death blow to her hopes 
and to her life ; she languished only a few weeks, when she 
sank under the stern and selfish cruelty of a man on whom 
she had vainly lavished ail the innocent and all the warmest 
affections of her life ; and who suffered her to pine aw T ay in 
hopeless affliction, because he dared not avow to her the 
duplicity of his conduct, and his incapability of accepting the 
heart she offered. She died in the 37th year of her age, and 
revoked a will made in favour of Swift, settling her fortune 
upon Mr. Marshall, (afterwards one of the Judges of the Com- 
mon Pleas,) and Dr. Berkeley, the Bishop of Cloyne. 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


59 


The correspondence between Swift and this unfortunate 
fady has been, for the first time, published in the edition by 
Scott, from the originals in the possession of Mr. Berwick. 
The sum of the evidence (says the biographer) which they 
afford, seems to amount this — that while residing in England 
for years, and at a distance from Stella, Swift incautiously 
engaged in a correspondence with Miss Vanhomrigh, which 
probably, at first, meant little more than mere gallantry, 
since the mother, brother, and sister, seemed all to have been 
confidants of their intimacy. After his going to Ireland his 
letters assume a graver cast, and consist rather of advice, 
caution, and rebuke, than expressions of tenderness. Yet 
neither his own heart, nor the nature of Vanessa’s violent 
attachment, permit him to suppress strong, though occasional 
and rare indications of the high regard in which he held her, 
although honour, friendship, and esteem, had united his fate 
with that of another. Is would, perhaps, have been better 
had their amours never have been public ; as that has, how- 
ever, happened, it is the biographer’s duty to throw such 
light upon them as Mr. Berwick’s friendship has enabled him 
to do, in order that Swift’s conduct, weak and blamable as it 
must be held in this instance, may at least not suffer here- 
after from being seen under false or imperfect lights.” Upon 
the death of Miss Vanhomrigh, Swift retreated to the south 
of Ireland, where he remained for two months in utter soli- 
tude, a prey, no doubt, to the most self-accusing remorse. 
On his return to Dublin, he received the forgiveness of 
Stella, and thus this unfortunate portion of his history i a 
closed. 


60 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


When Wood’s patent was withdrawn, Swift return id to 
Finlen, a house of Dr. Sheridan’s, where he passed some 
months in finishing and preparing Gulliver’s Travels for the 
press. Early in 1726, he set out for England, after an 
absence from that country of nearly twelve years : and was 
welcomed with all demonstrations of joy by bis old friends 
He also met with a favourable reception at Leicester House 
The Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline, hearing of 
his arrival, sent to desire to see him. Of this he gives the 
following account in his letter to Lady B. Germaine, 1732. 
“ It is six years last spring since I first went to visit my 
friends in England after the queen’s death. Her present 
majesty heard of my arrival, and sent at least nine tin.es to 
command my attendance before I would obey her, for several 
reasons, not hard to guess : and among others, because I had 
heard her character from those who knew her well. At last 
T went, and she received me very graciously.” During Swift’s 
stay in England his time was passed between Twickenham and 
Dawly, with his friends Pope or Bolingbroke. Pope then 
published his volume of Miscellanies, consisting of some of 
his own works and* Arbuthnot’s, but principally of Swift’s. 
The sale was very large, and Pope received the entire profits, 
which amounted to a hundred and fifty pounds. During 
these transactions he received a very melancholy account from 
Ireland of the State of Mrs. Johnson’s health; his old com- 
plaints of giddiness and deafness increased upon him, and he 
stole away from a society which he could no longer delight 
or enjoy, and retreated intc private lodgings. When suffi- 
ciently recovered, he retired to Ireland, and had u*c delight 


LIFE OF SWIF 


61 


of finding the health of Mrs. Johnson much improved Dur 
ing his visit to London, Swift met with a favoui able reception 
not only at Leicester House, but at St. James's, He dined 
with Sir R. Walpole at Chelsea; and afterwards, through 
Lord Peterborough’s intervention, had an interview with that 
minister, in which the grievances of Ireland formed the ab- 
ject of the Dean’s complaint. The enemies and calumnia- 
tors of Swift propagated a story that he had offered his pen 
to Walpole, upon the promise of preferment in England ; but 
Swift has destroyed all the credit which the falsehood might 
have had, by giving to Lord Peterborough a faithful account 
of the conversation. 

Swift set out for Ireland in August, and in the November 
following Gulliver's Travels made their public appearance, 
after having been privately seen and admired by Swift’s 
friends in England. 

The plan of this entertaining and delightful satire varies, 
as Scott observes, in its different parts. The voyage to Lilli- 
put refers chiefly to the court and politics of England. Wal- 
pole is plainly intimated under the character of Mr. Premier^ 
Flimnap ; the factions of high and low heels express the 
Tories and the Whigs ; the Sm all-endian s and Big-endians the ^ 
religious divisions of Papist and Protestant ; and when the 
heir apparent was described as wearing one heel high and 
one low, the Prince of Wales, who at that time divided his 
favour between the two leading political parties of England, 
laughed heartily at the comparison. The scandal which Gul- 
liver gave to the Empress by his mode of extinguishing the 
flames in the Royal Palace, seems to intimate the author’s 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


own disgrace with Queen Ann, founded on the indecorum of 
* the Tale of a Tub, which was remembered against him as a 
crime, while the service which it had rendered the cause of 
the ' Larch was forgotten. 

in the Voyage to Brobdignag the satire is of a more gen- 
eral character ; nor is it easy to trace any particular refer • 
ence to the political events or statesmen of the time. It 
seems intended to show in the most forcible manner the 
x ' vanity of our desires and the insignificance of our pursuits,"" 
by exhibiting the opinions formed of them by beings of 
superior power and more philosophical thought, and more 
cool and less passionate temperaments. Some passages are 
supposed to be an intended affront on the maids of honour, 
for whom Swift entertained no predilection ; and there is one 
which those interesting ladies never could have forgiven. 

The Voyage to Laputa was disliked by Arbuthnot, who 
probably considered it to be a satire on the Royal Society ; 
many of the allusions also are said to be levelled at the singu- 
larities of Sir Isaac Newton ; but the main attack of the 
fable is certainly directed against the false and chimeriea. 
pretenders to science, and the professors of natural and mathe- 
matical magic. In the department of the political projectors, 
some glances of his Tory feelings appear ; and in the melan- 
choly account of the Struldbrugs, we are reminded of the 
author’s indifference to life, and the melancholy state to which 
his own was prolonged. 

The Voyage to the land of the Houyhnlmms is the one that 
has been received with the least approbation of the public, 
and, perhaps, exhibits the smallest talent and judgment in the 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


63 


author. Of all the creations of his fancy it is the most im- 
probable ; and it is filled with such a fierce indignation 
against the frailties and vices to which our nature is so prone ; 
it betrays such a bitter misanthropy ; it indulges in such a 
fiendish mockery of the degraded species, and holds up such 
hideous representations of the loathsome depravity of our 
sins, while it renders its. satire more effective by drawing 
through it the richest vein of ridicule and the most pointed 
wit ; that persons of delicate and refined taste have been hurt 
by its grossness, and those of more severe and religious feel- 
ings have marked it with that moral disapprobation, which 
rejects a work so wide in its temper and feeling from the 
spi.it of Christianity. It must certainly be allowed that the 
picture, in all its nauseating details and its frightful impuri- 
ties, is overcharged ; that the colors are not suffioienly sub- 
dued ; and that the representation of beings so thoroughly 
brutalized and degraded, by exciting disgust and horror, 
destroys the effect which it was intended to produce. “ Where 
is the sense of a general satire,” says Warburton, “if the 
whole species be degenerated ; and where is the justice of it, 
if it be not ?” Voltaire, who was in England at the time when 
GuliiverVTravels appeared, spread their fame among his cor- 
respondents in France ; and the Abbe Desfontaines undertook 
a translation, which succeeded extremely with the French 
public. His continuation, called “Le Nouveau Gulliver,” I 
have never met with ; but another, published as the third, 
volume of the Travels in 1727, was stolen from a French work 
called “L-’Histoire des Severances,” and which has been 
ascribed to Monsieur Alletz and others; it is a production fai 


64 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


inferior to Swift’s in wit and invention ; but being suppressed 
in France and other Catholic countries, and consequently of 
rare occurrence, it offered facilities for the plagiarism of the 
English author. Arbuthnot also wrote two pamphlets on the 
subject ; and some verses in the Miscellany, written in a very 
pleasing vein of humour, were published by Pope. 

As Mrs. Johnson’s health apparently was restored, Swift 
found nothing to detain him in Ireland, and set out for Lon- 
don early in March. He was in high favour in Leicester 
House, but not on terms with Walpole. He had formed a 
plan of passing a few months in France, for the benefit of his 
health, but the news of the king’s death made him postpone 
it. It was expected that a change of measures would imme- 
diately take place, and that the most flattering prospects 
would be open to the Dean. Mr. Howard and Lord Bolling- 
broke strongly urged him to remain on the spot during a sea- 
son so important to his interests : but a return of his old com- 
plaint and the news of Mrs. Johnson’s relapse, obliged him to 
set out for Ireland. On his arrival he found his long-beloved 
friend in the last stage of decay, without the least hope of 
recovery. He attended her in this state during four or five 
months, and in the month of January he was deprived of her 
who for five and twenty years had been most affectionately 
attached to him, and whose life indeed had been devoted t<> 
his will. Of the dying scene two different stories have been 
told ; but both of them painful ; and one, that which comes 
from the authority of Sheridan, we must hope, for the sake oi 
humanity, not to be founded upon truth. Lord Orrery says, 
that Swift never mentioned her without a sigh. To alleviate 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


65 


his affliction, he turned his mind again to public affairs ; in a 
variety of publications relating to Ireland, he laid open the 
causes of her distress and poverty : and pointed out the means 
by which they might be alleviated : and he also directed his 
attention to some of the best planned charities that were evei 
supported from a private purse. He gave very largely in 
proportion to his fortune. After his settlement at the Dean- 
ery, and when he was out of debt, he divided his income into 
three parts, one he appropriated to his own support and his 
domestic expenses. The second he laid up as a provision 
against the accidents of life, and ultimately with a view to a 
charitable foundation after his death ; and the third he dis- 
posed of in charities to the poor and distressed. He lent to 
poor industrious tradesmen small sums of five and ten pounds, 
to be repaid with interest weekly ; and he always demanded 
good security for the repayment. Sheridan says, that he has 
been well assured, that many families in Dublin, now living 
in great credit, owed the foundation of their fortunes to the 
sums first borrowed from this source. His reputation for 
wisdom and integrity was so great, that he was consulted by 
several corporations in matters of trade ; and he was not sel- 
dom chosen umpire in their decisions : By his integrity, hi? 
patriotism, by the superiority of his talents, and his endeavours 
to serve the public, he obtained a remarkable ascendancy over 
the people of Ireland, and he was known over the whole king- 
dom as the Dean. In a letter which Lord Carteret wrote to 
him in 1732, who was the chief governor of Ireland, he says, 
“ I know by experience how much the city of Dublin thinks 
itself under your protection ; and how strictly they obeyed 


66 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


all orders fulminated from the sovereignty of St. Patrick’s,” — 
and in the postscript to another of March 24, 1736, he says, 
“ When people asked me how I governed Ireland, I say, that 
I pleased Dr. Swift.” 

Swift had now relinquished all expectations of further 
preferment. Walpole was exasperated against him, on 
account of some severe poems which he had written, and some 
forged letters in favour of Mr. Barber, bearing the Dean’s sig- 
nature, had excited the displeasure of the queen. 

About the year 1736, his memory was greatly impaired, 
and the general powers of the intellect showed marks of 
decay. Sheridan says, that “ the irascible passions which at all 
times he found difficult to keep within due bounds, now raged 
without control, and made him a torment to himself and all 
about him ; an unusual long fit of deafness and giddiness, 
which lasted almost a year, disqualified him for conversation, 
and made him lose all relish for society. He could not 
amuse himself with writing, and a whimsical resolution he had 
made, of never wearing spectacles, prevented him from read- 
ing. Thus, without amusement, without employment, his 
time passed heavily and gloomily along. The state of his 
mind is strongly pictured in a letter to Mrs. Whiteway. “ I 
have been (he says) very miserable all night, and to-day 
extremely deaf and full of pain. I am so stupid and con- 
founded, that I cannot express the mortification I am under 
both in body and mind. All I can say is, I am notin torture, 
but I daily and hourly expect it. Pray let me know how 
your health is and your family. I hardly understand one 
word I write. I am sure my days will be very few — few and 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


67 


miserable they must be. I am for those few days.” He 
always entertained apprehensions that he should outlive his 
understanding. Dr. Youug has recorded an instance of this, 
where he relates, that walking out with Swift and some others 
about a mile from Dublin, he suddenly missed Mr. Dean, who 
had staid behind the rest of the company. He turned back 
in order to know the occasion of it, and found Swift at some 
distance, gazing intensely at the top of a lofty elm whose 
head had been blasted. Upon Young’s approach he pointed 
to it, saying, “ I shall be like that tree, I shall die first at the 
top.” 

Not long after this time, his understanding failed to such a 
degree, that it was found necessary to have legal guardians 
appointed to take care of his present estate. This was fol- 
lowed by a fit of lunacy which continued some months, and 
then he sank into a state of idiocy which lasted to his death. 
He died October 19, 1745. When the death of the dean, so 
beloved and admired in Ireland as he was, was announced, 
the citizens of Dublin gathered from all quarters, and forced 
their way in crowds into the house, to pay the last tribute ot 
grief to their departed benefactor. Nothing but lamentations 
were heard round all the quarter where he lived ; and happy 
were they who first got into the chamber where he lay, to 
procure locks of his hair ; 

Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 

Unto their issue. 

So eager, says Sheridan, were numbers to obtain at any 
price this precious memorial, that in less than an hour hi? 
head was stripped of all its silver ornaments, so that not u 


68 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


hair remained. He was buried in the most private 
manner according to the directions of his will, in the great 
aisle of St Patrick’s Cathedral ; and, by way of monument, a 
slab of black marble was placed against the wall, on which 
was engraved the following Latin epitaph, written by h m- 
self: — * 

Hie depositum est corpus 
Jonathan Swift, S. T. P. 

Hujus Ecclesiae Cathedralis 
Decani 

Ubi saeva indignatio 
Ulterius cor lacerare nequit, 

Abi viator 

Et imitare, si poteris, 

Strenuum pro virili libertatis vindicem. 

Obiit anno (1745) 

Mensis (Octobris) die (19) 

Jitatis anno (78). 


Swift wasin person tall, strong, and well made, of a dark 
complexion, but with blue eyes, black and bushy eyebrows, 
nose somewhat aquiline, and features which expressed the 
boldness and confidence of his mind ; he never was known to 
laugh ; and according to Scott, the description of Cassius, in 
Shakespeare, might be applied to liim : 

He reads much ; 

He is a great observer, and he looks 

Quite through the deeds of men. 

Seldom he smil&; and smiles in such a sort 
As if he mock’d himself, and scorn’d his spirit 
That could be mov’d to smile at anything. 


His features have been preserved in many busts, prints, and 
medals. In youth he was reckoned handsome. Pope says 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


69 


that his eyes were as azure as the heavens, and Lad an unu- 
sual expression of acuteness. In old age his countenance 
was dignified and expressive. He spoke in public with facility 
and force ; and had he been on the bench of bishops, he 
would have been of great assistance to the ministry in the 
House of Lords. “ The government of Ireland,” says Scott, 
u dreaded his eloquence as much as his pen.” His manners 
in society were free, lively, and engaging : and even when 
age and infirmities had impaired his spirits and his temper, 
his conversation was still valued for the richness of the anec- 
dotes, the acquaintance which it displayed with mankind, the 
liveliness of his repartees, and shrewdness and satire of the 
wit. As his memory failed, he was conscious that his stories 
were too often repeated. He was fond of puns ; and Scott 
iays that the application of the line of Virgil to the lady who 
Jirew down a fiddle, is, perhaps, the best that ever was made. 

In his personal habits he was scrupulously neat. In bis 
latter days he was an early riser, and fond of exercise; 
though at one period of his life he was said to lie in bed 
and think of wit for the day. Of his learning, it must be 
said that it was not that of a professed Scholar. It is difficult 
exactly to say how far his knowledge of ancient literature 
extended, but in Greek it undoubtedly did not enable him 
to do more than read the best authors with tolerable facility ; 
and in Latin it did not enter into the critical niceties of 
the language. Chaucer’s flow of wit, and the charming 
graces and frank joyous vein of pleasantry which animated 
his poems, found a warm admirer in Swift ; he was, it is 
V, ' of the old romances of chivalry; and had re/id 


70 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


Milton with a scholar’s attention. The dramatic writers seem 
not to have attracted his notice ; which we may wonder at, 
considering the rich stores of pleasantry, and the exhaustless 
variety of character and manners, he would have discovered in 
these works : his library did not contain a copy of Shakespeare ; 
and the works of W ycherly and Rowe were presented by the 
authors. History was a favourite branch of his study ; and in 
his latter years he confined himself almost entirely to Claren- 
don. Scott says, “ that Swift loved the country, like most men 
of genius!” He does not seem to have been much alive to 
delights of romantic scenery, or the picturesque combinations 
of landscape ; but he was fond of the advantages which it gave, 
the opportunities of exercise, and freedom from restraint. 
The stern independence of his character, and the strangeness 
and waywardness of his temper, made him appear to superfi- 
cial observers, full of contradictions. He was a zealous 
churchman, for no one carried the rights of his order higher 
than he did, nor could he brook the least slight or dispar- 
agement on that subject ; yet he often wrote on matters con- 
nected with religion, and religious parties and belief, with a 
levity bordering on profaneness. Though a friend of liberty, 
he sided with the Tory administration. Disliking Ireland, 
and abusing the inhabitants, he yet vindicated her rights, and 
r appeared to feel deeply for her wrongs. Parsimonious in 
many of his habits of life, to a degree that was sordid and 
disreputable, he dealt out his charities with a discerning and 
liberal spirit. He was niggardly, but never avaricious ; and a 
considerable part of his moderate income was devoted to pur- 
poses of benevolence. His avarice, says Johnson, though it 


LIFE OF SWIFT*. 


71 


might exclude pleasure, was never suffered to encroach upon 
nis virtue. He was frugal by inclination, but was liberal by 
principle. And if the purpose to which he destined his little 
accumulations be remembered, with his distribution of occa- 
sional charity, it will perhaps appear that he only liked one 
mode of expense better than another, and saved merely that 
he might have something to give. He did not grow rich by 
injuring his successors, but left both Laracor and the Deanery 
more valuable than he found them. 

In his habits of society he seems never to have lost the 
singularities of his temper, though he had been educated in 
the refined society of Sir W. Temple’s house, and though he 
was probably master of all the rules of good-breeding and 
politeness, yet he affected a rude bluntness of manner and 
strange independence of character, that was not always under- 
stood or allowed. He would call Lord Oxford out of the 
house merely to form some trifling arrangement* and he 
would make Lady Burlington sing though she expressed a 
disinclination ; but to his inferiors, this waywardness of dis- 
position often passed into offences that could not be borne, 
and he trespassed at last too much on the good-nature and 
attachment of Sheridan. He is said to have much disliked 
the military, and the profession of the law always afforded a 
rich harvest of bitter sarcasms and ridicule. 

Swift was steady and zealous in his friendships, and those 
whom he promoted by his interest, or received into his inti- 
macy, were generally persons distinguished for their patriotism 
or their talents. His prejudices and antipathies were grounded 
upon reasons of political aversion. The language which he 


72 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


habitually used when alluding to Lord Somers and Sir Robert 
Walpole, and others, is well known ; his resentment outlived 
the faculties and life of the Duke of Marlborough, and atten- 
ded his funeral with a satirical epitaph. He was unable to 
forbear throwing out sarcasm against Steele, in the Rhapsody 
on Poetry, when death ought to have disarmed resentment. 
In the spleen and severity of his latter days, he classed his 
friends into grateful, ungrateful, indifferent and doubtful. It 
is with satisfaction that we see the names of our favorite poets. 
Pope and Gay, ranked among the few who are honoured with 
J he full esteem of the writer; and we find Dr. Parnelle and 
Mr. Berkeley, marked with the letters of disapprobation, w^e 
must make some allowance for the suspicion and caprice 
which accompanied the mfirraities of his age. When his 
different productions were submitted to the corrections of his 
friends, he received their remarks with candour and atten- 
tion. At Addison’s suggestion, he made considerable altera- 
tions in the Poem of Baucis and Philemon. On another 
occasion he put a pamphlet into the hands of a clergyman, 
for the benefit of his remarks ; the critic suggested some alte- 
rations, but when the work appeared, he became sensible that 
the passages were altered for the worse, and expressed his 
regret that the Dean had acquiesced in the alteration. 
“ Sir (said Swift), I considered that the passages were of no 
great consequence, and I made the alterations you desired 
without hesitation ; but, had I stood up in its defence, you 
might have imputed it to the vanity of an author, unwilling 
to hear of his errors ; and by this ready compliance, I hoped 
you would at all times hereafter be more fr*e in yoi. j 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


73 


remarks.” Sir W. Scott has summed up Swift’s character as 
an author, in such a just and discriminating manner, and has 
given such value to his praise by its impartiality, that I can- 
not do better than extract from it what is necessary to enable 
the reader of Swift’s works, to form a correct estimation of his 
talents. 

“As an author, there are three peculiarities remarkable in 
the character of Swift : the first is, the distinguished attribute 
of originality , and- it cannot be refused to him by 
the most severe critic. Even Johnson has allowed that no 
author can be found who has borrowed so little, or who has 
well maintained his claim to be considered original. There 
was, indeed, nothing written before his time which -could 
serve for his model, and the few hints which he has adopted 
from other authors, bear no more resemblance to his compo- 
sitions, that the green flax to the cable which is formed from 
it. 

“ The second peculiarity, is his total indifference to literarj 
fame. Swift executed his various and numerous works, as a 
carpenter forms wedges, mallets, or other implements of hi3 
art — not with the purpose of distinguishing himself by the 
workmanship of the tools themselves, but solely in order to 
render them fit for accomplishing a certain purpose, beyond 
which they were of no value in his eyes. He is often 
anxious about the success of his argument, and jealous of 
those who debate the principles and the purpose for which he 
assumes the pen, but he evinces on all occasions an unaffected 
indifference for the fate of his writings, providing the end of 
their publication was answered. The careless mode in which 

4 


74 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


Swift suffered his works to get to the public, his refusing 
them the credit of his name, and his denouncing all connection 
with the profits of literature, indicate his disdain of the char- 
acter of a professional author. 

“ The third distinguishing mark of Swift’s literary character 
is, that with the exception of history (for his fugitive attempts 
in Pindaric and Latin verse are too unimportant to be noticed), 
he has never attempted a style of composition, in which he 
has not obtained a distinguished pitch- of excellence. We 
may often think the immediate style of exercising his talents 
trifling, and sometimes coarse and offensive ; but his Anglo- 
Latin verses, his riddles, his indelicate descriptions and his 
violent political satires, are in their various departments as 
excellent as the subjects admitted, and only leave us more 
occasion to regret that so much talent was not uniformly 
employed on nobler topics.” 

As a poet, Swift’s post is pre-eminent in the sort of poetry 
which he cultivated. He never attempted any species of com- 
position in which either the sublime or pathetic were required 
of him. But in every department of poetry where that was 
necessary, he displayed as the subject chanced to require, 
either the blasting lightning of satire, or the lambent and 
meteor-like caricatures of frolicsome humour. His powers of 
versification are admirably adapted to his favourite subject. 
Rhyme, which is a handcuff to an inferior poet, he who is 
master of his art wears as a bracelet. Swift was of the latter 
description ; his lines fall as easily into the best grammati ;al 
arrangement, and the most simple and forcible expression, as 
if he had been writing in prose. The number and coincidence 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


75 


of rhymes, always correct and natural, though often unex- 
pected, distinguish the current of his poetical composition, 
which exhibit otherwise no mark of the difficulties with which 
those graces arc obtained. In respect of matter, Swift seldom 
elevates his tone above a satirical dialogue, a moral lesson, or 
a poem on manners, but the former are unrivalled in severity, 
and the latter in ease. Sometimes, however, the intensity of 
his satire gives to his poetry a character of emphatic violence, 
which borders upon grandeur. This is peculiarly distin- 
guishable in the Rhapsody on Poetry which, according to Dr. 
King, he accounted his best satire, and surely with great justice; 
yet this grandeur is founded, not on sublimity either of concep- 
tion or expression, but upon the energy of both, and indicates 
rather ardour of temper, than power of imagination. “ Facit 
indignatio versus.” The elevation of tone arises from the 
strong mood of passion, rather than from poetical fancy. 
When Dryden told Swift he would never be a poet, he only 
had reference to the Pindaric Odes, where power of imagina- 
tion was necessary to success. 

In the walk of satire and familiar poetry, wit and knowledge 
of mankind, joined to facility of expression, are the principal 
requisites of excellence, and in these Swift shines unrivalled. 
Cadenus and Vanessa may be considered as his chef d’oeuvre 
in that class of poems which is not professedly satirical. It is 
a poem on manners, and, like one of MarmontePs Contes 
Moraux, traces the progress and circulation of passion, exist- 
ing between two persons in modern society, contrasted strongly 
in age, manners, and situation. Yet even here the satirical 
vein of Swift has predominated. We look in vain for depth 


76 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


of feeling or tenderness of sentiment, although, had such 
existed in the poet’s mind, the circumstances must have called 
it forth. The mythological fable, which conveys the compli- 
ments paid to Vanessa, is as cold as that addressed to Ardelia 
or to Miss Floyd. It is in sho*i a kind of poetry, which 
neither affects sublimity nor pathos; but which, in the grace- 
ful facility of the poet, unites with the acute observation of the 
observer of human nature, to commemorate the singular 
contest between Cadenus and Vanessa, as an extraordinary 
chapter in the history of the mind. 

The Dean’s promptitude in composition was equal to his 
smoothness and felicity of expression. At Mr. Gore’s, in the 
county of Cavan, he heard the lively air called the Feast of 
O’Rourke; and obtaining a literal translation of the original 
Irish song from the author, Mr. Macgowan, executed, with 
surprising rapidity, the spirited translation which is found in 
his works. Of the general style of Swift’s poems, Johnson 
has said, “ They are often humorous, almost always light, and 
have the qualities which recommend such compositions, easi- 
ness and gavety. They are, for the most part, what their author 
intended ; the diction is correct, the numbers smooth, and the 
rhymes exact. There seldom occurs a hard laboured expres- 
sion, or a redundant epilhet; all his verses exemplify his own 
definition of a good style — ‘proper words in proper places.”* 
As an historian Swiff is entitled to little notice : his History 
of England is an abridgment, written evidently in imitation 
of Paterculus, but without those advantages in point of infor- 
mation which render the Latin author valuable. The Dean 
abandoned hi3 task, ‘because.’ as he said with a soil of smile. 


LIFT OF SWIFT. 


77 


to Mr. Deane Swift, ‘I have found them all such a pack of 
rascals, I would have no more to say to them.’ His account 
of the four last years of Queen Anne has little pretensions to 
the name of history. It is written with the feelings and pre- 
judices of a party wiiter, and does not deserve to be separated 
from The Examiner and other political tracts of which Swift 
was the author. 

But although his political treatises raised his fame when 
published, and are still read as excellent models of that 
species of composition, it is to his Tale of a Tub, to the 
Battle of the Books, to his moral romance of Gulliver, and to 
smaller, but not less exquisite satire on Men and Manners, 
that Swift owes the extent and permanency of his popularity 
as an English classic of the first rank. 

In reference to these works, Card. Polignac used the 
remarkable expression, ‘ qu’il avoit l’esprit createur.’ He 
possessed, indeed, in the highest perfection, the wonderful 
power of so embodying and imaging forth the shadows and 
riches of the mind, that the picture of the imagination is 
received by the reader as if it were truth. Undoubtedly the 
same keen and powerful intellect, which could sound all the 
depths and shallows of active life, had stored his mind with 
facts drawn from his own acute observation, and thus supplied 
with materials the creative talent which he possessed. In 
fiction he possessed, in the most extensive sense, the art of 
verisimilitude — the power of adopting and sustaining a ficti- 
tious character under every peculiarity of place and circum- 
stance. A considerable part of this secret rests upon minute- 
ness of narrative. Small and detached facts formed the fore- 


78 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


ground of a narrative when told by an eye-witness. They are 
the subjects which immediately press upon his attention, and 
have, with respect to him as an individual, an importance 
which they are far from bearing to the general scene in which 
he is engaged. But to a distant spectator, all these minute 
incidents are lost and blended in the general current of events ; 
and it requires the discrimination of Swift or Defoe to select 
in a fictitious narrative, such an enumeration of minute inci- 
dents as might strike the beholder of a real fact, especially 
such a one as has not been taught by an enlarged mind and 
education, to generalize his observations. 

The proposition I have ventured to lay down respecting 
the art of giving verisimilitude to a fictitious narrative, 
has a corollary resting on this one principle. As minute par- 
ticulars, pressing close upon the observation of the nar- 
rator, occupy a disproportionate share of his narrative, and 
of his observation, so cincurn stances more important in them- 
selves, in those cases, attract his notice only partially, and 
are, therefore, but imperfectly detailed ; in other words, there 
is a distance as also a foreground in narrative as in natu- 
ral perspective, and the scale of objects necessarily decreases 
as they are withdrawn from the vicinity of him who reports 
them. In this particular the art of Swift is equally mani- 
fest. The information which Gulliver acquires from hearsay 
is communicated in a mor* vague and general manner than 
that reported on his own knowledge. He does not, like other 
voyagers in Utopian realms, bring us back a minute account 
of their laws and government, but merely such general infor- 
mation upon these topics as a well informed and curious 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


79 


►-/anger may be reasonably supposed to acquire during some 
months’ residence in a foreign country. In short, the narra- 
tives — the centre and main spring of the story, which neither 
exhibits a degree of extended information, such as circum- 
stances could not permit him to acquire, nor omits those 
minute incidents which the same circumstances rendered 
of importance to him, because immediately affecting his own 
person. Swift has the more easily attained this perfection of 
fictitious narrative, because in all his work, of whatever des- 
cription, he has attained the most undeviating attention to 
the point at issue. What Mr. Cambridge has justly observed 
of the Battle of Books, is equally true as a general character- 
istic of Swift’s writings ; whoever examines them will find 
that through the whole piece, no one episode or allusion is 
introduced for its own sake, but every point appears not only 
consistent with, but written for the express purpose of 
strengthening and supporting the whole. Upon the style of 
Swift Dr. Johnson made the following observations, which are 
entitled to weight from the learning and character of the 
critic. It is, however, as Scott observes, to be considered, that 
the author of the Rambler may be supposed in some degree 
to undervalue a structure of composition so strikingly opposed 
to his own, and that Dr. Johnson appears to have been un- 
friendly to the memory of Swift. 

“ In his works he has given very different specimens both 
of sentiment and expression. His Tale of a Tub has little 
resemblance to his other pieces. It exhibits a vehemence 
and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of images and a vivacity 
of diction, such as he afterwards never possessed or never 


80 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


exerted. It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar that it must 
be considered of itself, what is true, of that, is not true of any 
thing else that he has written. In his other works is found 
an agreeable tenor of easy language, which rather trickles 
than flows. His delight was in simplicity. That he has in his 
works no metaphor, as has been stated, is not true, but his few 
metaphors seem to be received rather by necessity than 
x choice. He studied purity, and though perhaps all his 
strictures are not exact, yet it is not often these solecisms can 
be found ; and whoever depends on his authority may gene- 
rally conclude himself safe. His sentences are never too much 
~~"dilated or contracted, and it would not be easy to find any 
embarrassment in the complication of his clauses, any incon- 
sequence in his connections, or abruptness in his transitions. 
His style was well suited to his thoughts, which are never sub- 
tilized by rare disquisitions, decorated by sparkling conceits,^ 
^elevated by ambitious sentences, or variegated by far sought 
'-learning. He pays no court to the passions, he excites neither 
surprise nor admiration. He always understands himself, and 
his readers always understand him. The peruser of Swift 
^'-wants little previous knowledge, and it is sufficient that he is 
acquainted with common words and with common things.^ 
He is neither required to mount elevations, nor explore pro- 
fundities. His passage is always on a level, or by solid 
ground, without asperities, without obstruction.” Granger, 
in his Biographical History, has given the following character 
of Swift, which has been thought worthy of insertion in more 
than one of the accounts of his life. 

“Jonathan Swift was possessed in a higher degree than 

i 


LIFE OF SWIFT. 


81 


any of his contemporaries with the power of a creative^ 
genius. The more we dwell on the character and writings 
of this great man, the more they improve upon us ; in what- 
ever light we view him he still appears to be an original. 
His wit, his humor, his patriotism, his charity, and his piety, ' 
were of a different cast from those of other men. He had in 
his virtues few equals, and in his talents no superior. In that 
of humor, and especially of irony, he ever was, and probably 
ever will be, unrivalled. He did the highest honour to his 
country by his' parts, and was a great blessing to it by the 
vigilance and activity of his public spirit. His style, which 
generally consists of the most naked and simple terms, is 
strong, clear, and expressive; familiar without vulgarity or 
meanness, and beautiful without affectation or ornament. 
He is sometimes licentious in his satire, and transgresses the 
bounds of delicacy and purity. He, in the latter par. of his 
life, availed himself of the privilege of his great wit to trifle ; 
but when, in this instance, we deplore the misapplication of 
such wonderful abilities, we at the same time admire the 
whims, if not the dotage of Swift. He was, perhaps, the 
only clergyman of his time who had a thorough knowledge 
of men and manners. His Tale of a Tub, his Gulliver’s 
Travels, and his Drapier’s Letters, are the most considerable of 
his prose works, and his Legion Club, his Cadenus and 
Vanessa, and his Rhapsody on poetry, are at the head of his 
poetical performances. His writings in general are regarded 
as standing models of our language, as well a3 perpetual mou^ 
uments of their author’s fame.” 


4 * 



PART I. 




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPU1 


































































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A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.* 


CHAPTER I. 

* \ 

The author gives some account of himself and family — his first Inducements to 

travel — he is shipwrecked, and swims for his life — gets safe on shore in cne 

country of Lilliput — is made a prisoner, and carried up the country. 

My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire ; I was 
the third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in 
Cambridge, at fourteen years old, where I resided three 
years, and applied myself close to my studies ; but the charge 
of maintaining me, although I had a very scanty allowance, 

* Gulliver’s travels were originally designed to form part of a satire on the 
Abuse of Human Learning, projected by Pope, Swift, and Arbuthnot. In their 
joint publication, the “Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus,” the sketch of the work is 
thus given by Pope : — 

“ It was in the year 1699, that Martin set out on his travels. Thou wilt certainly 
be very curious to know what they were. It is not yet time to inform thee ; but 
what hints I am at liberty to give I will. 

“Thou shalt know, then, that in his first voyage he was carried by a prosperous 
storm to a discovery of the ancient Pygmean empire. 

“ That, in his second, he was happily shipwrecked on the land of the Giants, the 
most humane people in the world. 

“ That, in his third, he discovered a whole kingdom of philosophers, who govern 
by the mathematics; with whose admirable schemes and projects he returned to 
benefit his own dear country; but had the misfortune to find them rejected by the 
envious ministers of Queen Anne, and himself sent treacherously away. 

“ And hence it is that in his fourth voyage he discovers a vein of melancholy, 
proceeding almost to a disgust of his species ; but above all, a mortal detestation 
of the whole flagitious race of ministers, and a final resolution not to give in any 
memorial to the Secretary of State, in order to subject the lands he discovered 
the crown of Great Britain. 


S5 


86 


GUJ.LI TEE’S TRAVELS. 

being too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice 
to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London, with 
whom I continued four years ; and my father now and then 
sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning 


“ Now, if by these hints the reader can help himself to a farther discovery of the 
nature and contents of these travels, he is welcome to as much light as they afford 
him : I am obliged by all the ties of honour, not to speak more openly.” 

Pope, however, appears to have been displeased at the substitution of Lemuel 
Gulliver for Martinus Scriblerus ; he adds, rather ill-naturedly: 

“ But if any man shall see such very extraordinary voyages which manifest the 
most distinguishing marks of a philosopher, a politician, and a legislator, and can 
^r.gine them to belong to a surgeon of a ship , or a captain of a merchantman , 
him remain in his ignorance.” 

wift himself thus announces the approaching appearance of the work, in a letter 
’ope, dated Dublin, September 29th, 1725, “I have employed my time (besides 
Ihing) in finishing, correcting, amending, and transcribing my travels, in four 
Its complete, newly augmented, and intended for the press when the world shall 
erve them, or rather when a printer shall be found bold enough to venture his 

t 3.” 


he existence of a nation of pigmies was firmly believed in ancient times. The 
inutive race is mentioned by Herodotus, Aristotle, Pliny, and even by some of 
earlier modern travellers. The following account is from Ctesias, who was 
imporary with Xenophon. “In the middle of India, there are black men called 
nies, using the same language as the other Indians; they are very little, the 
' 2 st of them being but two cubits, and most of4hem but a cubit and a half high, 
y have very long hair, reaching down to their knees and lower; and a beard 
er than any man’s. After their beards are grown long they wear no clothes, 
the hair of their heads falls behind a great deal below their hams, and that of 
r beard before comes down to their feet; then laying their hair thick all about 
r body, they afterwards gird themselves, making use of their hair for clothes. 
i are flat-nosed and ill-favoured. Their sheep are like lambs, and their oxen 
asses scarce as big as rams, and their horses and mules, and all their other 
le, not bigger. Three thousand of these pigmies are household troops in the ser- 
of the king of India. They are good archers. They are very just, and use the 
- ; i laws as the Indians do.” 

: me of the old commentators on the Bible translated the word Gammachia , 
lies, and it is so rendered in the Vulgate: “This circumstance,” as Sir Thomas 
me remarks in his ‘Enquiries into Vulgar Errors,” tended greatly to confirm 
popular belief in the existence of this fabulous race.” Viewed as a mere fiction, the 
account of Lilliput did not appear so extravagant in Swift’s days as it does in our 3 . 
Every one has heard the story of the Irish bishop, a very learned man, who, having 
read the voyage to Lilliput, said that “there were some things in it, which he could 
not believe.” 

After the publication of the Travels, Swift was much amused to find that Gulliver 
was a real name, and that a Mr. Jonathan Gulliver was a member of the House oi’ 


A VOYAGE TO LILLI P, UT. £7 

navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to tbo- 
who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be, so 
time or other, my fortune to do. When I left Mr. Bates 
went down to my father; where, by the assistance of h 
and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got fo 
pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain i 
at Leyden; there I studied physic two years and sev 
months, knowing it would be useful to me in long voyag 
Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended 
my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallo 
Captain Abraham Panned commander ; with whom I cc 
tinned three years and a half, making a voyage or two in 
the Levant and some other parts. When I came back 
resolved to settle in London ; to which Mr. Bates, my mastc 
encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to sever 
patients. I took part of a small house in the Old Jewn 
and being advised to alter my condition, I married Miss Mai 
Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier 
Newgate- street, with whom I received four hundred pount 
for a portion.* 


Representatives in Boston. An American writer adds, that this Jonathan deemed 
necessary to disclaim publicly all connexion with Lemuel. 

* Swift and Defoe are unrivalled in the art of introducing trifling and minute cir- 
cumstances, which give an air of reality to their fictitious narratives. In Gulliver . 
early history, as in that of Crusoe, persons are casually mentioned, of whom v ■ 
hear nothing more. Gulliver’s uncle, like Crusoe’s brother, only comes on the stag •• 
to disappear again for ever. This is quite contrary to the usual course of romanc 
writers, who rarely introduce a personage or an incident that does not in some way 
aid the development of the plot. Sir Walter Scott suggests that Swift probably imi- 
tated Defoe in this particular, but the ideal character of Gulliver naturally led the 
Dean to introduce these petty particulars. He designed to portray Gulliver as a 
kind of second Dampier, uniting the homely s./nse and prejudice of a true-born 
Englishman to the acquired wisdom of a life of adventures. There is a sailor’s 
bluntness and frankness in everything that Gulliver tells us of himself and family ; 
the occasional minuteness, and even coarseness, of the personal details aie faith- 
fully taken from the journals of the early English voyagers, whose accounts of their 
discoveries are strangely blended with the most trifling particulars respecting their 
food, clothing, etc. The character of Gulliver is that of a thorough English sailor; 
his education at Leyden did not raise him too high above the rude tars with whoa 


ss 


Gulliver’s travels. 


But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I 
having few friends, my business began to fail ; for my con- 
science would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice of too 
many among my brethren. Having, therefore, consulted with 
my wife and some of my acquaintance, I determined to 
go again to sea. I was surgeon successively in two ships, 
and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West 
Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune. My 
hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient 
and modern, being always provided with a good number of 
books ; and when I was ashore, in observing the manrfers and 
dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language ; 
vherein I had great facility, by the strength of my memory. 

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew 
veary of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife 
nd family. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter-lane, 
,nd from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among 
he sailors, but it would not turn to account. After three 
ears’ expectation that things would mend, I accepted an 
advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of 
the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South Sea 
We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage atfirsf 
was very prosperous. 

It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the 
reader with the particulars of our adventures in those seas ; 
let it suffice to inform him, that in our passage from thence to 
the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the 
north-west of Van Dieman’s Land.* By. an observation, we 

he mingled, and we always find his learning brought forward with difficulty, a fid 
by an effort, while his mother-wit and sailor’s courage are present iu every emer 
gency. 

♦ This island was first discovered, a. d. 1633, by Abel Janson Tasman, a Dutch 
navigator, who called it Van Diemen’s Land, after the governor of Batavia, by 
whom he had been sent to examine the Southern Ocean. Tasman’s narrative was 
very loose and inaccurate, so that Swift might people the seas which that navigato* 
traversed, with any creatures lie pleased. 


8,9 


A VOYAGE TO LILL [PUT. 

found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes 
south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labor 
and ill food ; the rest were in a very weak condition. On the 
5th of November, which \fas the beginning of summer in 
those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a 
rock within half a cable’s length of the ship ; but the wind was 
so strong that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately 
split. Six of the crew, of whom I was one, having let down 
the boat into the sea, made a shift to get clear of the ship 
and the rock. We rowed, by my computation, about three 
leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already 
spent with labor while we were in the ship. We therefore 
trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about 
half an hour the boat was overset by a sudden flurry from 
the north. What became of my companions in the boat, as 
well as of those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the 
vessel, I cannot tell ; but conclude they were all lost. For 
my own part, I swam as fortune directed me, and was pushed 
forward by wind and tide. I often let my legs drop, and 
could feel no bottom; but when I was almost gone, and 
able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth ; 
and by this time the storm was much abated. The declivity 
was so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the 
shore, which I conjectured was about eight o’clock in the 
evening. I then advanced forward near half a mile, but 
could not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants ; at least 
T was in so weak a condition that I did not observe them. I 
was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat pf the 
weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I 
left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lav 
down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where J 
slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my 
life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours ; for when I 
awaked, it was just daylight. I attempted to rise, but was 


30 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


/ ble to stir ; for, as I happened to lie on my back, 1 
iny arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side 
:> \r- ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied 
down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender 
res across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I 
con 1 only look upwards; the sun began to grow hot, and 
the ight offended my eyes. I heard a confused noise about 
but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the 


me 


sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on my 
hfi leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, 
came almost up to my chin; when bending my eyes dovvn- 
v ard as much as I could, I perceived it to be a human 
crea ire not six inches inches high, with a bow and arrow in 
1 is hands, and a quiver at his back.* In the meantime, I 
felt at least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) 
fo’ 1 lowing the first. I was in the utmost astonishment, and 
r - - d so loud that they all ran back in a fright; and some 
' em, as I was afterwards told, were hurt by the falls they 
bv leaping from ray sides upon the ground. However, 
soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far as 
et a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes 
r ay of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice, 
Inah degul! the others repeated the same words several 
s, but I then knew not what they meant, 
lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great 
■si ness ; at length struggling to get loose, I had the for- 

" is incident is taken from Philostratus. (Icon. lib. ii. p. 817). “ The pigmies,” 
r*, “ were anxious to revenge the death of Antaeus, and having found Hercules 
ig in Libya, they mustered up all their forces against him. One phalanx 
; ' bed his left hand; but against his right hand, that being the stronger, two 
nxes were appointed. The archers and slingers besieged his feet, admiring 
Igeness of his thighs ; but against his head, as the arsenal, they raised batteries, 
ng himself taking his post there. They set fire to his hair, put reaping-hooks 
■ is e y es » that he might not breathe, fixed doors to his mouth and nostrils. 
11 the execution that they could do was only to awake him; and when iliii 
one, deriding their folly, he gathered them all up into his lion’s skin, and oar* 
:<m (Philostratus thinks) to Euristhenes.” 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


91 


tune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fas- 
tened my left arm to the ground ; for, lifting it up to my 
face, I discovered the m^hods they had taken to bind me, 
and at the same time with a violept pull, which gave me 
excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down 
my hair on the left 'side, so that I was just able to turn my 
head about two inches. But the creatures ran off a second 
time before 1 could seize them ; whereupon there was a great 
shout in a very shrill accent, and after it had ceased I heard 
one of them cry aloud, Tolgo phonac ; when in an instant I 
felt above a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, 
which pricked me like so many needles; and besides, they 
shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe, 
whereof many, I suppose fell on my body (though I felt them 
not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered with 
mv left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fel 
groaning with grief and pain, and then striving again to i 
loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, a 1 
some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the side 
but by good luck I had on me a buff jerkin which th . 
could not pierce. 1 thought it the most prudent method tc 
lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when 
my left arm being already loose I could easily free myself 
and as for the inhabitants I had reason to believe I might e 
a match for the greatest army they could bring against me, 
if they were all of the same size with him that I saw. But 
fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people obser- 
ved I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows ; but, by 
the noise I heard, I knew their numbers increased; andabou' 
four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard 
knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work ; 
when turning my head that way as well as the pegs and 
strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot 
and a half from the groin >le of holding four of the 


inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it; from 
whence one of them who seemed to be a person of quality, 
i. v.ie me a long speech, whereof I understood not one sylla- 
ble •' But I should have mentioned, that before the principal 
on began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro 
a d san (these words and the former were afterwards 
iv: ated and explained to me). Whereupon, immediately 
ai it fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the string that 
bis *ned the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty 
of irning to the right, and of observing the person and ges- 
of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of middle 
and taller than any of the other three who attended him, 


iloore has made a very amusing use of this incident, in an ode to Sir Hudson 
k . which is too good to be passed over with a mere reference. 

x 

Sir Hudson Lowe, Sir Hudson l.oto , 

(By name, and all ! by nature so,) ^ 

As thou art fond of persecutions ; 

Perhaps thou’st read, or heard repeated 

J How Captain Gulliver was treated, 

When thrown among the Lilliputians. 

They tied him down — these little men did- 
Ani having valiantly ascended 

Upon the mighty man’s protuberance, 

They did so strut ! Upon my soul 
It must have been extremely droll 
• To see their pigmy pride’s exuberance t 

And how the doughty mannikins 
Amused themselves with sticking pins 

And needles in the great man’s breeches; 

And how some very little things, 

Th at pass’d for lords, on scaffoldings 

Got up and worried him with speeches. 

Alas I alas! th-* 1* should her. . 

V’o mighty men to be oanghi n tppiugt 

Though different too these persecutions; 

For Gulliver there took ti e nap, 

WJiiie the Nap— a)i, sad mishap! — 

Is taken by the Lilliputians. 


A VOYAGE TO LILL1PUT. 93 

thereof one was a page that hell up his train, ar seemed to 
be somewhat longer than my middle finger; an . t;u» v. hni 
two stood one on each side to support him. He d 5 very 
part of an orator, and I could observe many periods of threal- 
enings, and others of promises, pity, and kindne s.* I ans- 
wered in a few words, but in the most submiss: . manner, 
lifting up my left hand and both my eyes to thesu . as call; >g 
him for a witness'; and being almost famished w hanger, 
not having eaten a morsel for some hours before : left the 
ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upo ; me that I ■ 
could not forbear showing my impatience (perhaps m m : the 

strict rules of decency), by putting my finger . free nently to 
mv mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The hv ■ 10 (for so 
they call a great lord as I afterwards learnt) understood me 
very well. He descended from the stage, and commanded 
that several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which 
above a bundled inhabitants mounted and walked towards 
my mouth, laden with baskets full of meat, which had been 
provided and sent thither by the king’s orders, upon the first 
‘ntelligence he received of me. I observed there was the flesh 
>f several animals, but could not distinguish them by the 
taste. There were shoulders, legs and loins, shaped like those 
of mutton, and very well dressed, but smaller than the wings 
of a lark. I ate them by two and three at a mouthful, and 
took three loaves at a time about the bigness of musket bul- 
lets. They‘supplied me as fast as they could, showing a thou- 


* In the excitement that followed the Revolution, public speaking became more 
common in England than it had ever been before, and several of the whig lords 
rendered efficient service to the cause of the Hanoverian succession, by their 
speeches at county meetings. Swift despised and hated these itinerant orators, to 
whose exertions the overthrow of his party was mainly owing, and it is probable 
; ua t ; a this description «« alludes to some particular leader of the whi;; part,* #ho 
was remarkable for his addresses to popular assemblies. Sir Robert Walpole after 
his expulsion from parliament was an active agitator among the wh’gs, and was 
not loss formidable to Harley and Bollngbroke, out ?ide the walls of the House of 
Commons, than lie had been as a leader of parliamentary opposition. 


04 


GULJLilVEK © l iv A V £ L w * 


s,* ' m ; as of wonder and astonishment at my bulk and 


- ' n i; ade another sign that I wanted drink. They found 

g L ■■■’ . small quantity would not suffice me; and 
being a most ingenious people, they slung up, with great dex- 
teritv one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards 


i y hand, and be;r out the top; I drank it off at a draught, 
y which I might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and 
r ’ : ; b like a snub wine of Burgundy, but much more deli- 
cious. Tnoy brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in 
me same manner, and made signs for more ; but they had none 
to give me. When I had performed these wonders they 
s ‘ outed f° r j°y> and danced upon my breast, repeating several 
nes as they did at first, HeJcinah degul. They made me a 
gn that I should throw down the two “hogsheads, but first 
.irning the people below to stand out of the way, crying 
1 bud, Borach mevolah, and when they saw the vessels in the 
br, there was a universal shout of Hekinah dtgul. I confess 
1 vvas often tempted, while they were passing backwards and 
rwards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that 
me in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But 
i e remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might 
>t be the worst they could do, and the promise of honour I 
ade them— for so I interpreted my submissive behaviour- 
on drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now consid- 
ed myself as bound by the laws of hospitality, to a people 
v io had treated me with so much expense and magnificence, 
however, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at 
lhe intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture 
mount and walk upon my body while one of my hands was 
ai liberty , without trembling at the very sight of so prodigious 


, ' 1 - 1 jU1j3Tj api ' i to d#ui. fitter some time, when 

oy observed that. J made no more demands fojf meat, there 
appeared before me a person of high rank from his inlpenb 


A V ox AGE TO L } L I TV 

majesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of my 
right leg, advanced forwards up to my face, with about a 
dozen of his retinue, and producing his credentials under the 
signet royal, which he applied close to my eyes, spoke about 
ten minutes without any signs of anger, but with a kind of 
determinate resolution ; oftep pointing forwards, which as I 
afterwards found, was towards the capital city, about half a 
mile distant, whither it was agreed by his majesty in council 
that I must be conveyed. I answered in few words, but to no 
purpose, and made a sign with my hand that was loose, put- 
ting it to the other (but over his excellency’s head for fear of 
hurting him or his train), and then to my own head and body, 
to signify that I desired my liberty. 

It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he 
shook his head by way of disapprobation, and held his hands 
in a posture to show that I must be carried as a prisoner. 
However, he made other signs, to let me understand that I 
should have meat and drink enough, and very good treatment. 
Whereupon I once more thought of attempting to break my 
bonds ; but again, when I felt the smart of their arrows upon 
my face and hands, which were all in blisters, and many of the 
darts still stickiftg in them, and observing likewise that the 
number of my enemies increased, I gave tokens to let them 
know that they might do with me what they pleased. Upon 
this, the hurgo and his train withdrew, with much civility and 
cheerful countenances. Soon after I heard a general shout, 
with frequent repetitions of the words, Peplom selan ; and I 
felt great numbers of the people on my left side relaxing the 
cords to such a degree that I was able to turn upon my right, 
and to ease myself with making water ; which I very plenti- 
fully did, to the great astonishment of the people ; who, con- 
, y by my motion what I was going to do, immediately 
. ed to the right and left on that side, to avoid the torrent, 
which fell with such noise and violence from me. But, before 


§6 


GULLIVEliS TBAVEL6. 


this they had daubed my face and both my hands with a soil 
of ointment, very pleasant to the smell, which in a few minutes 
r imoved all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances, 
dded to the refreshment I had received by their victuals and 
drink, which were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I 
ept about eight hours, as I was afterwards assured; and it 
was no wonder, for the physicians, by the emperor’s order, 
had mingled a sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine. 

It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered sleep- 
ing on the ground, after my landing, the emperor had early 
■ notice of it by an express ; and determined in council, that I 
should be tied in the manner I have related (which was done 
i 1 the night while I slept), that plenty of meat and drink 
should be sent me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the 
capital city. This resolution perhaps may appear very bold 
•nd dangerous, and I am confident would not be imitated by 
any prince in Europe on the like occasion. However, in my 
opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as generous ; for, 
supposing these people had endeavoured to kill me with their 
. pears and arrows, while I was asleep, I should certainly have 
' waked with the first sense of smart, which might so far have 
aroused my rage and strength as to have enabled me to break 
the strings ^wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were 
not able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy. 

These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived 
to a great perfection in mechanics by the countenance and 
encouragement of the emperor, who is a renowned patron of 
earning. This prince has several machines fixed on wheels, 

: ™ the carriage of trees and other great weights. He often 
uilds his largest men-of-war, whereof some are nine feet long, 
in woods where the timber grows, and has them carried on 
f-iese engines three or four hundred yards to the sea. *• . vy 
undred carpenters and engineers were immediately se <n 
* ork to prepare the greatest engine they had. It was a fr t no 


97 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 

of wood raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet 
long and four wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. The 
shout I heard was upon the arrival of this engine, which, it 
seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It was brought 
parallel to me, as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to 
raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one 
foot high, were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords 
of the bigness of packthread, were fastened by hooks to many 
bandages, which the workmen had girt round my neck, my 
hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of the strongest 
men were employed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys 
fastened on pdles ; and thus, in less than three hours, I was 
raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast.* All 
this I was told ; for, while the operation was performing, I lay 
in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous medicine 
infused into my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor’s 
largest horses, each about four inches and a half high, were 
employed to draw me towards the metropolis, which, as I said, 
was half a mile distant. 

About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by 
a very ridiculous accident ; for the carriage being stopped a 
while, to adjust something that was out of order, two or three 
young natives had the curiosity to see how I looked when I 
was asleep ; they climbed up into the engine, and advanced 
very softly to my face ; one of them an officer in the guards, 
put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into my left 


* The caution of the Lilliputian courtiers is probably designed to ridicule the over- 
acted solicitude by which the ministers of George I. affected to protect the king from 
the plots of Jacobites. The Tories who hasted to greet the king on bis landing, 
were either refused admittance or harshly dismissed. “ Lord Harcourt, who arrived 
with a patent for the peerage of the Prince of Wales, was abruptly dismissed ; the 
- f.. ^ ; ' -he - liii.-i ?:dng- to Greenwich, was forbidden to appear in 

the royal presence; and Lord Oxford, who had shown more Joy in proclaiming the 
king, than his friends thought respectful towards the late queen was bareiy admit- 
ted in the crowd to kiss the k'r g s hand .”— Lord J. Russell's A fairs of Europe 
vol. i. p. 80S. 




5 


gulliyek’s teayi s . 


OH 

no- ril, which tickled ray nose like a straw, and made me 
sue ;ze violently ; whereupon they stole off unperceived, and it 
v, three weeks before I knew the cause of my waking so 
su ienly. We made a long march the remaining part of the 
da y, and rested at night with five hundred guards on each 
% side of me, half with torches, and half with bows and arrows, 
r- •ady to shoot me if I offered to stir. The next morning at sun- 
ri - we continued our march, and arrived within two hundred 
ds of the city gates about noon. The emperor and all his 
jw c rt, came out to meet us, but his great officers would by no 
means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting 
my body. 

.\t a place where the carriage stopped, there stood an 
;ient temple, esteemed to be the largest in the kingdom; 
(ich having been polluted some years before by an unnatu- 
murder, was, according to the zeal of those people, looked 
on as profane, and therefore had been applied to common 
s, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away. Ip 
! is edifice it was determined I should lodge. The great gate 
rating to the north was about four feet high, and almost two 
. it wide, through which I could easily ereep. On each side 
of the gate was a small window, not above six inches from the 
ground ; into that on the left side the king’s smith conveyed 
ar score and eieven chains, like those that hang to a ladies 
itch in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked to 
y left leg and six-and-thirty padlocks. Over against this 
nple, on the other side of the great highway, at twenty feet 
stance, there was a turret at least five feet high. Here the 
• raperor ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to 
hwve an opportunity of viewing me, as I was told, for I could 
i “ it see tl^em. It was reckoned that above a hundred thou- 
*ad inhabitants came out ol the town upon the same eirand • 
and a spite of my guards, I believe there could be no fewer 
that teu thousand at several times, who mounted uiy body by 


A T.'YAGK TO I, Y \ l 1 y U'i - 

the help of ladders. But a pi ’.amation was soon ed. i 
forbid it upon pain of death. When th< * 1 

was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all th 
strings that bound me; whereupon . tore up, with as meiai 
choly a disposition as ever I had in re v life. But the non 
and astonishment of the people, at seeing me rise and walk, 
are not to be expressed. The chains that held my left leg 
were about two yards long, and gave me not only the liber- 
ty of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle ; but, 
being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowed m« to creep 
in, and lie at my full length in the temple. 


100 


GHLI1 ' K I? 5 T R A V E -- - 



CHAPTER II. 


The Er^eror of LUliput, attended by several of the nobility, comee to see tne 
author in his confinement — The Emperor’s person and habits described. — Learnel 
men appointed to teach the author their language — He gains favour Dy his mild 
disposition — His pockets are searched, and his sword and pistols taken from him. 


Quietly as I had endured my tedious confinement to one 
posture, it was with great pleasure that I found myself again 
upon my feet : I looked about me, and must confess that I 
never beheld a more entertaining prospect. The country 
around appeared like a continued garden, and thfe enclosed 
fields, which were generally forty feet square, resembled so 
many beds of flowers. These fields were intermingled with 
woods of half a stang* and the tallest trees as I could 
judge appeared to be seven feet high. I viewed the town on 
my left hand, which looked like the painted scene of a city in 
a theatre. 

I had been for some hours extremely pressed by the neces- 
sities of nature ; which was no wonder, it being almost two 
daj-s since I last disburdened myself. I was under great diffi- 
culties between urgency and shame. The best expedient I 
could think on, was to creep into my house, which I accord- 
ingly did, and shutting the gate after me, I went as far as the 
length of my chain would suffer, and discharged my body of 
that uneasy load. But this was the only time i was ever 
guilty of so ul >anly uc action; for, which X -cannot but 

* A stang te a pole or perch ; sixteen feet and a half. — Ori$, 




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. Id 

hope the candid reader will give some allowance, after h< 
has candidly and impartially considered my case, and the dis- 
tress I was m. From this time my constant practice was, as 
soon as I rose to perform my business in the open air, at the 
full extent of my chain ; and due care was taken every morn- 
ing, before company came, that the offensive matter should 
be carried off in wheelbarrows, by two servants appointed for 
that purpose. I would not have dwelt so long upon a circum- 
stance that perhaps at first sight may appear not very 
momentous, if I had not thought it necessary to justify my 
character, in point of cleanliness to the world ; which, I am 
told some of my maligners have been pleased, upon this and 
other occasions to call in question. 

When this adventure was at an end, I came back out of 
my house, having occasion for fresh air. The emperor 
was already descended from the tower, and advancing on 
horseback towards me, which had like to have cost him dear ; 
for the beast, though well trained, yet wholly unused to such 
a sight, which appeared as if a mountain moved before him, 
reared up on his hinder feet ; but that prince, who is 
an excellent horseman, kept his seat, till his attendants ran 
in, and held the bridle, while his majesty had time to 
dismount When he alighted, he surveyed me round 
with great admiration y but kept beyond the length 
of my chain. He ordered his cooks and butlers, who 
were already prepared, to give me victual.! and drink, 
which they pushed forward in a sort of vehicles upon wheels, 
till I could reach them. I took these vehicles, and soon 
emptied them all : twenty of them were filled with meat, 
and ten with liquor ; each of the former afforded me two 
or three good mouthfuls; and I emptied the liquor of ten 
vessels, which was contained in earthen vials, into one vehi 
cle, drinking it off at a draught ; and so I did with the rest. 
The empress and young ladies of the blood of both sexes, 


102 


gcjlliver’s travels. 

attended by many ladies, sat at some distance in their chairs : 
but upon the accident that happened to the emperor’s horse, 
they alighted, and came near to his person, which I am now 
going to describe. He is taller, by almost the breadth of my 
nail, than any of his court ; which alone is enough to strike 
an awe into the beholders. His features are strong and 
masculine, with an Austrian lip, and arched nose; his com- 
plexion olive, his countenance erect, his body and limbs well 
proportioned, all his motions graceful, and his deportment 
majestic. He was then past his prime, being twenty-eight 
years and three quarters old, of which he had reigned about 
seven in great felicity, and generally victorious.* For the 
better convenience of beholding him, I lay on my side, 
so that my face was parallel to his, and he stood but three 
yards off : however, I have had him since many times in my 
hand, and therefore cannot be deceived in the description. 
His dress was very plain and simple, and the fashion of 


* There can be little room for doubting that in the description of the emperor of 
Lilliput, Swift dimly shadowed forth some leading traits in the character of George 
I. The points of direct resemblance, however, for obvious reasons, are very few ; 
it is only by collecting all the incidents recorded of the Lilliputian emperor, that 
we find out his general similarity to the first monarch of the house of Brunswick. 
The following account of George I. will enable the reader to discover the most pro- 
minent points of identity in the two portraits. “George I. ascended the English 
throne in his fifty-fifth year, when men are usually more disposed to acquiesce in 
the settled routine than venture on novel and perhaps troublesome experiments. 
Moreover the natural disposition and understanding of the king were not of 
a kind, at any period of his life, to carry him out of the established orbit. He was 
a person of as simple tastes as appearance ; in England he was ? stranger 5 
his home being Hanover. He naturally inclined to the seclusion of a private sta- 
tion, being shy and reserved in public, but easy and facetious among his inti- 
mates. During the fourteen years of his government of the electorate, he had 
acquired the reputation of a just and circumspect prince, who well understood and 
steadily pursued his own interests, and would have been well content to end 
his days in the petty sovereignty of his ancestors, had not the ambition of thers 
been greater than his own. Punctual in business, he was more dull than inuolent ; 
and the plain honesty of his temper, joined with the narrow notions of a low edu- 
cation, made him look upon his acceptance of the crown as an act of usurpation, 
which was always uneasy to him. He had no taste for literature or the arts, and 
was very parsimonious.” — Wade'* British History , p. 834. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


103 


it between the Asiatic and the European : but he had on his 
head a light helmet of gold, adorned with jewels, and a 
plume on the crest. He held his sword drawn in his hand 
to defend himself, if I should happen to break loose : it was 
almost three inches long ; the hilt and scabbard were gold, 
enriched with diamonds. His voice was shrill, but very 
clear and articulate ; and I could distinctly hear it when 
I stood up. The ladies and courtiers were all most magnifi- 
cently clad ; so that the spot they stood upon seemed 
to resemble a petticoat spread on the ground, embroidered 
with figures of gold and silver. His imperial majesty spoke, 
often to me, and I returned answers ; but neither of us could 
understand a syllable. There were several of his priests anc 
lawyers present (as I conjectured by their habits), who were 
commanded to address themselves to me ; and I spok< 
to them in as many languages as I had the least smattering 
of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin* French, Spa 
nish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpose. 
After about two hours the court retired; and I was left wit) 
a strong guard, to prevent the impertinence, and probabl , 
the malice of the rabble ; who were very impatient to crow 
about me as near as they durst; and some of them ha 
the impudence to shoot their arrows at me, as I sat on th 
ground by the door of my house, whereof one very narrowl 
missed my left eye. But the colonel ordered six of th 
ringleaders to be seized, and thought no punishment so pr< 
per as to deliver them bound into my hands ; which some c 
his soldiers accordingly did, pushing them forwards with tl 
butt-ends of their pikes into my reach. I took them all : 
my right hand, put five of them into my coat-pocket, and as 
to the sixth, I made a countenance as if I would eat him 
r rn 0 -pom* man squalled terribly, and the colonel and 
bis officers were in much pain, espe< Killy ‘when they saw me 
w ke out mv penknife : but I soo: : them out of fear; for 




104 : 


Gulliver’s travels. 


looking mi'dly, and immediately cutting the strings he was 
bound with, I set him gently on the ground and away 
he ran. I treated the rest in the same manner, taking them 
one by one out of my pocket ; and I observed both the sol- 
diers and people were highly delighted at this mark of 
my clemency, which was represented very much to my 
a 1 vantage at court.* 

Towards night I got with some difficulty into my house, 
here I lay on the ground, and continued to do so about a 
fortnight ; during which time, the emperor gave orders 
to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred bedsf of the 
. ommon measure were brought in carriages, and worked up 
in my house ; a hundred and fifty of their beds, sewn toge- 
ther, made up the breadth and length ; and these were four 
ouble ; which, however, kept me but very indifferently from 
the hardness of the floor, that was of smooth stone. By the 
> ime computation they provided me with sheets, blankets, 
nd coverlets, tolerable enough for one who had been so long 
: aured to hardships. 

As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it 
brought prodigious numbers of rich, idle, and curious 
j eople to see me ; so that the villages were almost emptied ; 

. nd great neglect of tillage and household affairs must 
ave ensued, if his imperial majesty had not provided by 
s sveral proclamations and orders of state, against this incon- 


* Gulliver’s history as a courtier at Lilliput, is obviously designed to represent 
e administration of Harley and Bolingbroke, at the close of Anne’s reign, 
hatever vrere the other demerits of that cabinet, it must be confessed that 
ey showed more tenderness to the party by which they were opposed, and 
fci'eater clemency to political delinquents, than their successors. This forbearance, 
especially in the case of libellers, is very ingeniously intimated by Gulliver’s grant- 
ing pardon to the malicious archers. Swift used frequently to remark that Anne 
was the only sovereign during whose entire reign no one suffered the penalties of 
high treason. 

t Gulliver has obs, - 

of the objects thus le* . - tv * 







A. VOYAGE TO LILUPUT. 105 

veniency. He directed that t'mse who had already beheld 
me should return home, and or. resume to come within 
fift ) r yards of my lout license from the court; 

whereby *he secretaries of state got considerable fees. 

In the mean time the emperor held frequent councils, to 
debate what course should be taken with me ; and I was 
afterwards assured by a particular friend, a person of great 
quality, who was as much in the secret as any, that the court 
was under many difficulties concerning me. They apprehen- 
ded my breaking loose ; that my diet would be very expensive, 
and might cause a famine.* Sometimes they determined to 
starve me, or at least to shoot me in the face and hands with 
poisoned arrows, which would soon dispatch me ; but again 
they considered that the stench of so large a carcass might 
produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably spread 
through the whole kingdom. In the midst of these consulta- 
tions several officers of the army went to the door of the great 
council chamber, and two of them being admitted, gave an 
account of my behaviour to the six criminals above mentioned ; 
which made so favourable an impression in the breast of his 
majesty and the whole board, in my behalf, that an imperial 
commission was issued out obliging all the villages, nin« hun- 
dred yards round the city, to deliver in every morning six 
beeves, forty sheep, and other victuals for my sustenance; 
together with a proportionable quantity of bread, and wine, 
and other liquors; for the due payment of which, his majesty 
gave assignments upon his treasury, for this prince lives chiefly 
upon his own demesnes ; seldom except upon great occasions 
raising any subsidies upon his subjects, who are bound to 
attend him in his wars at their own expense. An establish- 
ment was also made of six hundred persons to be my domes* 


* The parsimony of George L has been already noticed ; ** avarice was so pre- 

dominant in him, that he would raise notroops to secure the succession.”— 
Kistcry.. p. g84- 


106 


GULLIVERS i'RAVKLB. 


;ics, who had board wages alio d f< their maintenance, and 
;ents built for them very conveniently on each s de of my 
door. It was likewise ordered that three hundred tailors 
jliould make me a suit of clothes, after the fashion of their 
country, and that six of his majesty’s great scholars -hould be 
employed to instruct me in their language ; and lastly, that 
the emperor’s horses, and those of the nobility and troops of 
guards, should be frequently exercised in my sight, to accus- 
tom themselves to me. All these orders were duly put in 
execution ; and in about three weeks I made a great progress 
in learning their language : during which time the emperor 
f requently honoured me with his visits, and was pleased to 
jssist my masters in teaching me. We began already to 
onverse together in some sort ; and the first words I learnt, 
| were to express my desire “ that he would be pleased to give 
] m© my liberty which I every day repeated on my knees, 
lis answer, as I could apprehend it, was, “that this must be 
a work of time, not to be thought on without the advice of 
is council, and that at first, I must lumos Jcelmin pesso des - 
mar Ion emposo that is, swear a peace with him and his 
kingdom : however, that I should be used with all kindness ; 
and he advised me “ to acquire, by ray patience and discreet 
behaviour, the good opinion of himself and his subjects.” 
He desired “ I would not take it ill, if he gave orders to 
certain proper officers to search me ; for probably I might 
carry about me several weapons, which must needs be 
d angerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious 
> person.” I said, “ His majesty should be satisfied ; for I 
was ready to strip myself, and turn up my pockets before 
d m.” This I delivered, part in words, and part in signs. 
He replied, “ that, by the laws of the kingdom, I must be 

e© 1 1 by two of his officers; that he knew this could not 

be done without my consent and assistance ; and he had so 
g°°d opiuion of my generosity and justice, as to trust their 


5 * 


> 


A VOYAGE TO LILLI PUT. 


107 


persons in my hands; that whatever they took from me, 
should be returned when I left the country, or paid for at the 
rate which I would set upon them.” I took up the two 
officers in my hands, put them first into my coat-pockets, and 
then into every other pocket about me, except my two fobs 
and another secret pocket, which I had no mind should be 
searched, wherein I had some little necessaries that were of 
no consequence to any but myself. In one of my fobs there 
was a silver watch, and in the other a small quantity of gold 
in a purse. These gentlemen, having pen, ink, and paper 
about them, made an exact inventory of everything they saw ; 
and when they had done, desired I would set them down, 
that they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory I 
afterwards translated into English, and is word for word as 
follows :* 

“ Imprimis , In the right coat-pocket of the great Man- 
mountain (for so I interpret the words quinbus jlestrin) after 
the strictest search, we found only one great pie^e, of coarse 
cloth, large enough to be a foot-cloth for your majesty’s chief 
room of state. In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, 
with a cover of the same metal, which we, the searchers, 
were not able to lift. We desired it should be opened, and 
one of us stepping into it, found himself up to the midleg in 
a sort of dust, some part whereof flying up to our faces, set 
us both a sneezing for several times together. In his right 
waistcoat-pocket we found a prodigious bundle of white thin 
substances, folded one over another, about the bigness of 
three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black 
figures; which we humbly conceive to be writings, every 
letter almost half as large as the palm of our hands. In the 


recy app 


Utrecht. It 
cions bat wl 


inventory is designed to ridicule the reports of the 

‘e to investigate the presumed designs o 
igotiations said to be connected with 

5 reports, that the committees “ found 

6 understand to which it was added 
peeled every thing.” 


a« said < 
they co 


committees of 

t the Jacobites, 
the treaty of 
nothing suspi 
that “ rh they 


108 gulliver’s travels. 

left there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were 
extended twenty long poles, resembling the palisadoes before 
your majesty’s court; wherewith we conjecture the man- 
mountain combs his head, for we did not always trouble him 
with questions, because we found it a great difficulty to make 
him understand us. In the large pocket, on the right side 
of his middle cover (so I translate the word ranfu-lo , by 
which they meant my breeches), we saw a hollow pillar of 
iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of 
timber, larger than the pillar; and upon one side of the pillai 
vere huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into strange figures 
vhich we knew not what to make of. In the left pocket 
another engine of the same kind. In the smaller pocket on 
he right side, were several round flat pieces of white and red 
metal, of different bulk ; some of the white which seemed to 
>e silver, were so large and heavy that my comrade and I could 
lardly lift them. In the left pocket were two black pillars 
irregularly shaped ; we could not without difficulty reach the 
op of them, as we stood at the bottom of his pocket. One 
of them was covered, and seemed all of a piece ; but at the 
'pper end of the other there appeared a white round sub- 
lance, about twice the bigness of our heads. Within each of 
lese was enclosed a prodigious plate of steel ; which by our 
orders, we obliged him to show us, because we apprehended 
t iey might be dangerous engines. He took them out of 
Meir cases, and told us, that in his own country his practice 
as to shave his beard with one of these, and cut his meat 
ith the other. There were two pockets which we could not 
enter; these he called his fobs; they were two large slits 
Cut into the top of his middle cover, but squeezed close by 
ti e pressure of his belly. Out of the right fob hung a great 
silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the bottom. 
We directed him to draw out whaiever as at Tie end of 
that chain, which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half 
of seine transparent metal ; for, on the transparent side we 


A VOYAGE TO LILLI PUT. 


109 


saw certain figures circularly drawn, and 1 i ought we could 
touch them, till we found our fingers stop c-d by that lucid 
substance. He put this engine to our ears, w]i<-h rp-iie an 
incessant noise, like that of a water-mill : and we conjecture 
it is either some unknown animal, or the God that he wor- 
ships ; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because 
he assured us (if we understood him right, for he expressed 
himself very imperfectly) that he seldom did anything without 
consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said it pointed out 
the time for every action of his life. From the left fob he 
took out a net almost large enough for a fisherman, but 
contrived to open and shut like a purse and which served 
him for the same use ; we found therein several massy piec 
of yellow metal, which if they be real gold, must be of 
immense value. 

“ Having thus in obedience to your majesty’s commands 
dilligently searched all his pockets, we observed a girdle 
about his waste, made of the hide of some prodigious anima 
from which, on the left side, hung a sword of the length of fiv 
men, and on the right a bag or pouch, divided into two cells 
each cell capable of holding three of your majesty’s subject , 
in one of these cells were several globes, or balls, of most pon 
derous metal, about the bigness of our heads, and required a 
strong hand to lift them ; the other cell contained a heap of 
certain black grains, but of no great bulk or weight, for we 
could hold above fifty of them in the palms of our hands. 

“ This is an exact inventory of what we found about the 
body of the man-mountain, who used us with great civility, 
and due respect to your majesty’s commission. Signed and 
sealed on the fourth day of the eighty-ninth moon of y^ui 
majesty’s auspicious reign : 



//<>&/ -u * cti 


110 


gulliver’s travels. 

vVhei tbis inventoiy was read over to the emperor, he 

directed me, although in very gentle terms, to deliver up the 

bevera! particulars.* He first called for my scimitar, which I 

took out, scabbard and all. In the meantime he ordered 

three thousand of his choicest troops (who then attended him) 

to surround me at a distance, with their bows and arrows just 

ready to discharge ; but I did not observe it, for mine eyes 

were wholly fixed on his majesty.f He then desired me 

to draw my scimitar, which, although it had got some rust 

by the sea-water, was, in most parts, exceedingly bright. I 

did so, and immediately all the troops gave a shout between 

terror and surprise ; for the sun shone clear, and the reflection 

dazzled their eyes, as I waved the scimitar to and fro in my 

hand. His majesty who is a most magnanimous prince, was 

; iss daunted than I could expect : he ordered me to return it 

• 

* The searches made by the whigs in the houses of persons suspected of Jacobitism 
» d Popery, are scarcely caricatured in this whimsical account of the examination 
c f Gulliver’s pockets. Sir Walter Scot has given a similar description in his Peve- 
-’i of the Peak, where the emissaries of the House of Commons, puzzled by the ordi- 
r y habits of life in the higher ranks, were disposed to find treason in a laced 
waistcoat, and Popery in a hooped petticoat. Writing in Ireland, Swift was likely 
to ind an ample supply of searchers and alarmists, for the Cromwellian settlers, 
del. ving their titles to their estates from no better source than the English suspicion 
and hatred of Popery, were anxious to keep alive such feelings ; and catalogues of 
suspicious articles, even more ludicrous than those in the text, may be found in 
the records of Dublin Castle. 

O e of the objects of suspicion in those days, wearied out by constant requisitions 
io <- rrender his fire arms, and by the repeated annoyances which he had expe- 
nd, sent his poker, tongs and shovel to the arsenal, and took a regular receipt 
n em from the officer in command. 

here is an exquisite humour in these formal preparations for security, which 
' *d the notice of the persons they were intended to intimidate. The satire is 
’ ’ d against the precautions taken by the whig ministers on receiving information 
< or pretended plots of the Jacobites, particularly in May, 1722, when “ orders 

were issued to all military officers to repair to their respective commands. General 
Macartney was dispatched to Ireland, to bring over some troops into the west of 
England. Messengers were sent to Scotland to secure some suspected persons; and 
the ' ’ T " ’ ~ li :led to I 

be sent to England lu case of need.” — Wad*, 359. At he same tim*- a (ux lama- 
tion v as issued, commanding all Papists to depart i. m London and W . minster 
aa 1 for confining PapisU. to their habitations. 










A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


Ill 


into the scabbard, and cast it on the ground, as gently as I 
could about six feet from the end of my chain. The next 
he demanded was one of the hollow iron pillars by which he 
meant my pocket pistols. I drew it out and at his desire, as 
well as I could, expressed to him the use of it ; and charging 
it only with powder, which, by the closeness of my pouch 
happened to escape wetting in the sea (an inconvenience 
against which all prudent mariners take special care to pr* 
vide), I first cautioned the emperor not to be afraid, and tin 
I let it off in the air. The astonishment here was raui 
greater than at sight of the scimitar. Hundreds fell down 
if they had been struck dead ; and even the emper) 
although he stood his ground, could not recover himself j 
some time. 

I delivered up both my pistols in the same manner as 1 
had done my scimitar, and then my pouch of powder a. <: 
bullets ; begging him that the former might be kept fr< in 
fire, for it would kindle with the smallest spark, and blow up 
his imperial palace into the air. I likewise delivered up my 
watch, which the emperor was very curious to see, and com- 
manded two of his tallest yeomen of the guards to bear it on 
a pole upon their shoulders, as draymen in England d a 
.barrel of ale. He was amazed at the continual noise it ma 
and the motion of the minute-hand, which he could ea| 
discern, for their sight is much more acute than ours ; 
asked the opinions of his learned men about it, which vLxv, 
various and remote, as the reader may imagine without my 
repeating; although, indeed, I could not very perfectly 
understand them. I then gave up my silver and copper 
money, my purse with nine large pieces of gold, and some 
smaller ones ; my knife and razer, my comb and silver snuff- 
1, ha 1 kerchief end journal-book. My scimitar, pistols, 

jkj.j -pou ;h. were con»e}od in oaniages to his majesty’* 
stores ; but tie res;, of my goods were returned me. 


112 


oulliver’s travels. 


I had, as I before observed, one private pocket, which 
escaped their search, wherein there was a pair of spectacles 
\ which I sometimes use for the weakness of mine eyes) a 
pocket perspective, and some other little conveniences; 
which, being of no consequence to the emperor, I did not 
think myself bound in honour to discover, and I apprehended 
they might be lost or spoiled, if I ventured them out of my 
►ossession. 


* 




xj . 







A ' V O T A G E TO LILLIPUT. 


113 


CHAPTER III. 

The author diverts the Emperor, and his nobility of both sexes, in a very uncommon 
manner— The diversions of the court of Lilliput described — The author has his 
liberty granted him upon certain conditions. 

My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on 
the emperor and his court, and indeed upon the armv and 
people in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting 
my liberty in a short time. I took all possible methods to 
cultivate this favourable disposition. The natives came by 
degrees ‘o be less apprehensive of any danger from me. I 
would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance 
! on my hand ; and at last the boys and girls would venture 
to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair. I had now 
made a good progress in understanding and speaking the 
language. The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me 
with several of the country shows, wherein they exceeded all 
nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. 
I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers, 
performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two 
feet, and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which 1 
shall desire liberty, with the reader’s patience, to enlarge a 
little. 

This diversion is only practised by those persons who are 
Candida ' * ■ \ Mgh favour at court. 

They are traim 1 tb :,rt from hr youth, and are not 
* : -y&ys </ Lie birth, or liberal education. When a great 


Ill 


GULLIVERS TRAVELS. 


office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often 
happens), five or six ot those candidates petition the emperor 
to entertain his majesty and the court with a dance on the 
rope; and whoever jumps the highest without falling, suc- 
ceeds in the office. Very often the chief ministers themselves 
are commanded to show their skill, and to convince the 
emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap, the 
treasurer, is allowed to cut a paper on the straight rope, at 
least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. 
I have seen him do the summerset* several times together 
upon a trencher fixed on a rope which is no thicker than a 
common packthread in England.f My friend Reldresal, 
principal secretary for private affairs, is in my opinion, if I 


* Summerset or summersault , a gambol of a tumbler, in which he springs up, 
turns heels over head in the air, and comes down upon his feet. — Orig. 

t Flimnap is intended for Sir Robert Walpole, from whom Swift at first had 
some expectations of promotion ; when these were disappointed, the dean became 
the bitter enemy of the minister, and his hatred was aggravated by the zeal with 
which Walpole persecuted Swift’s great favourites, Lord Bolingbroke and Dr. 
Atterbury, bishop of Rochester. In an epistle to the poet Gay, the dean gives the 
following bitter description of Walpole: 

And first to make my observation right, 

I place a statesman full before my sight, 

A bloated minister in all his geer, 

With shameless visage and perfidious leer ; 

Two rows of teeth arm each devouring jaw, 

And ostrich-like, his all-digesting maw. 

My fancy drags this monster to my view, 

To show the world his chief reverse in you. 

Of loud unmeaning sounds a rapid flood 

Rolls from his mouth in plenteous streams of mud ; 

With these, the court and senate-house he plies 
Made up of noise, and impudence, and lies. 

And again, alluding to Walpole’s continuance in office under George II., and Si* 
Spencer Compton’s refusal to form an administration. 

I knew a brazen minister of state, 

Who bore for tw'^e ten yon« the public hat** 

In every mouth >. roost In y u 

Was, “ when v>i'U ■ rogue f* 

A juncture happen’d, in his >ig? ■ pride . 

While he went rol s, ig on, old mast-.; died 




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


115 


am not partial, the second after the treasurer** tbo rest of 
the great officers are much upon a par. 

These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, 
whereof great numbers are on record. I myself have two 
or three candidates break a limb. But the danger is much 
greater when the ministers themselves are commanded to show 
their dexterity ! for by contending to excel themselves and 
their fellows, they strain so far that there is hardly one of 
them who has not received a fall, and some of them two or 
three. I was assured that, a year or two before my arrival, 
Flimnap would infallibly have broke his neck, if one of the 
king’s cushions, that accidently lay on the ground, had not 
weakened the force of his fall.f 

There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown 
before the emperor and empress, and the first minister, upon 
particular occasions. The emperor lays on the table three 
fine silken threads of six inches long; one is blue, the other 
red, and the third green. These threads are proposed as 

We thought there now remained no room to doubt; 

His work is done, the minister must out. 

The court invited more than one or two ; 

Will you, Sir Spencer ? or will you? or you? 

But not a soul his office durst accept ; 

The subtle knave had all the plunder swept ; 

And such was then the temper of the times ; 

He owed his preservation to his crimes. 

The candidates observed his dirty paws, 

Nor found it difficult to guess the cause ; 

But when they smelt such foul corruptions round him, 

Away they fled, and left him as they found him. 

* Mr. Secretary Stanhope was most probably intended by Reldresal; he sup- 
planted Walpole in 1717, and adopted a more temperate and conciliatory course 
towards the Tories and Jacobites, with whom Swift was connected. 

t Walpole was compelled to resign his office in 1717, through the intrigues of Lord 
Sunderland, and Mr. Secretary Stanhope, who, following the king to Hanover, 
sought and found a favourable opportunity of supplanting Walpole ami Townshend 
in the royal favour. After an exclusion of four years, which semed politically “ to 
have broken his neck,” he was restored by his interest with the Duchess of Kendal, 
the favourite mistress of George I. ; and this was “ the king’s cushion that lay acci 
lentally on the ground, and weakened the force of the fall. 


Gulliver’s travels. 

prizes ; those persons whom the emperor has a mind to dis- 
tinguish by a peculiar mark of his favour. The ceremony is 
performed in his majesty’s great chamber of state, where the 
candidates are to ^undergo a trial of dexterity, very different 
from the former, and such as I have not observed the least 
resemblance of in any country of the new or old world. The 
emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the 
horizon, while the candidates advancing, one by one, some- 
times leap over the stick, sometimes creep under it, backward 
and forward, several times, according as the stick is advanced 
or depressed. Sometimes the emperor holds one end of- the 
stick, and the first minister the other; sometimes the minister 
has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his part with 
the most agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and 
creeping, is rewarded with the blue coloured silk; the red is 
given to the next, and the green to the third, which they all 
w ? ear girt twice around about the middle ; and you see few 
great persons about this court who are not adorned with one 
of these girdles.* 

The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having 
been daily led before rne, were no longer shy, but would come 
up to my very feet without starting. The riders would leap 
them over my hand, as I held it on the ground ; and one of 
the emperor’s huntsmen, upon a large courser, took my foot, 
shoe and all, which was indeed a prodigious leap. I had the 
good fortune to divert the emperor one day after a very extra- 
ordinary manner. I desired he would order several sticks of 
two feet high, and the thickness of an ordinary cane, to be 
brought me ; w'hereupon his majesty commanded the master 


♦The revival of the Order of the Bath by Sir Robert Walpole in 1726, as a cheap 
means of gratifying his political adherents, was fair game to a satirist like'Swift. 
Walpole was distinguished not only by the Order of the 5. ■: - 

Garter, which was conferred on him in 1726.— Coxe's ! i/e ' 

It is scarcely necessary to mention, that blue is tj c- ot » u 

red of the Bath, and green of the Thistle. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLI 


of his woods to give directions accordingly; and the next 
morning six woodmen arrived, with as many carriages, drawn 
by eight horses to each. I took nine of the k ■ I 
ing them firmly in the ground in a quadrangular figure, two 
feet and a half square, I took four other sticks and tied them 
parallel at each corner, about two feet from the ground, then 
I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect; 
and extended it on all sides, till it was tight as the top of a 
drum; and the four parallel sticks, rising about five inches 
higher than the handkerchief, served as ledges on each side. 
When I had finished my work, I desired the emperor to let a 
troop of the best horse, twenty-four in number, come and 
exercise upon this plain. His majesty approved of the pro- 
posal, and I took them up, one by one, in my hands ready 
mounted and armed, with the proper officer to exercise them. 

As soon as they got into order, they divided into two parties, 
performed mock skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew 
their swords, fled and pursued, attacked and retired, and in 
short, discovered the best military discipline I ever beheld. \ 
The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from' falling 
over the stage ; and the emperor was so much delighted, that 
he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days, and 
once was pleased to be lifted up, and give the word of com- 
mand : and, with great difficulty, persuaded even the empress 
herself to let me hold her in her close chair within two yards 
of the stage, when she was able to take a full view of the 
whole performance. It was my good fortune, that no ill acci- 
dent happened in these entertainments; only once a fiery 
horse, that belonged to one of the captains, pawing with his 
hoof, struck a hole in my handkerchief, and his foot slipping^ 
he overthrew his rider and himself ; but I immediately relieved • 
Uivuh '"v :he’ hole wlih one hand, I set down 

e manner as 1 t ok them 
fell was strai ider but 


gulliveb’s travels. 

the rider got no hurt ; and I repaired my handkerchief as well 
< ould; however, I would not trust to the strength of it 
any*''::' ore, in such dangerous enterprises. 

About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I 
was entertaining the court with this kind of feats, there 
arrived an express to inform his majesty that some of his sub- 
jects, riding near the place where I was first taken up, had 
seen a great black substance lying on the ground, very oddly 
shaped, extending its edges round, as wide as his majesty’s 
bed-chamber, and rising up in the middle as high as a man ; 
that it was no living creature, as they at first apprehended, for 
lay on the grass without motion, and some of them had 
walked round it several times ; that, by mounting upon each 
oiher’s shoulders, they had got to the top, which was flat and 
even, and stamping upon it, they found that it was hollow 
within ; that they humbly conceived it might be something 
belonging to the man-mountain ; and if his majesty pleased, 
they would undertake to bring it with only five horses. I pres- 
ently knew what they meant , and was glad at heart to 
receive this intelligence. It seems, upon my first reaching 
the shore after our shipwreck, I was in such confusion, that 
before I came to the place where I went to sleep, my hat, 
which I had fastened with a string to my head while I was 
rowing, and had stuck on all the time I was swimming, fell off 
after I came to land ; the string, as I conjecture, breaking by 
some accident, which I never observed, but thought my hat 
had been lost at sea. I entreated his imperial majesty to give 
orders that it might be brought to me as soon as possible, 
describing to him the use and nature of it ; and the next day 
the wagoners arrived with it, but not in a very good con- 
dition ; they had bored two holes in the brim, within an inch 
and a half of the edge, and • 

these hooks were tied by a lo „ < i to ' .. mess. an. i thus 

my hat was dragged along for above ) :i an English mile 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


119 


but the ground in that country being extremely smooth and 
leyel, it received less damage than I expected. 

Two days after this adventure, the emperor, having ordered 
that part of his army which quarters in and about his metro- 
polis, to be in readiness, took a fancy of diverting himself in 
a very singular manner. He desired I would stand like a 
colossus, with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could. 
He then commanded his general (who was an old experienced 
leader, and a great patron of mine) to draw up the troops in 
close order, and march them under me ; the foot by twenty- 
four abreast, and the horse by sixteen, with drums beating, 
colours Hying, and pikes advanced. This body consisted of 
three thousand foot, and a thousand horse. His majesty gave 
orders, upon pain of death, that every soldier in his march 
should observe the strictest decency with regard to my person ; 
which, however, could not prevent some of the younger offi- 
cers from turning up their eyes, as they passed under me ; 
and, to confess the truth, my breeches were at that time in so 
ill a condition, that they v afforded some opportunities for 
laughter and admiration.* j 

I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty 
that his majesty at length mentioned the matter, first in the 
cabinet, and then in a full council; where it was opposed by 
none, except Skyresh Bolgolam, who was pleased, without 
any provocation, to be my mortal enemy .f But it was carried 
against him by the whole board, and confirmed by the 
emperor. That minister was galbet , or admiral of the realm, 

* The author probably intends to ridicule the partiality of George I. for reviews 
and military pageantry. Hogarth’s celebrated picture of the “ March of the Guards 
to Finchly,” belongs to a much later period, but its satiric touches would probably 
have been as applicable in the reign of the first as of the second George. , 

+ Skyresh Bolgolam is most probably the Duke of Argyle, who was greatly 
uawr; . it Swi ‘he Scottish nation, in his “ Public Spirit of the 

Whigs.” In ui; uiifinL ■ in himself, the Dean alludes to the proclamation 

coring thro- iiunurcd poti. ; : jr the discovery of the author of this pamphlet, 

w .;ch was issued at the item. 1 rather than the request of the Duke of Argyle h« 


120 


GIJLLIYEk’s TKAVEL8. 


very much in his master’s confidence, and a person well versed 
in affairs, but of a morose and sour complexion. However, 
he was at length persuaded to comply; but prevailed that 
the articles and conditions upon which I should be set free, 
• and to which I must swear, should be drawn up by himself. 
These articles were brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in 
person, attended by two under-secretaries and several persons 
of distinction. After they were read, I was demanded to 
swear to the performance of them ; first, in the manner of my 
own country, and afterwards in the method prescribed by 
their laws; which was, to hold my right foot in my left 
hand, and to place the middle finger of my right hand on the 
crown of my head, and ray thumb on the tip of my right ear. 
But, because the reader may be curious to have some idea of 
the style and manner of expression peculiar to that people, as 
well as to know the articles upon which I recovered my 
liberty, I have made a translation of the whole instrument, 
word for word as near as I was able, which I here offer to 
the public.* 

Go Mom a rem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully 

| Ulj.'. Ctk, most mighty emperor of Lilliput, delight and 

o Is in a body to demand an audience of the queen, and 

. ration. 

incensed, his services forgot, 

Lea • ! a a victim to the vengeful Scot; 

gh the realm a proclamation spread, 

' ■ m a .-ice on his devoted head, 

While, innocent, he scorns ignoble flight ; 

His watchful friends preserve liim by a sleight. 

See also the character given of Argyle in Swift’s notes on Macky— Appendix to 
Llliput I. 

* In his description of Lilliput , in the following Articles, Gulliver seems to have 
>had England more immediately in view. In his description of Blefuscu , he seems 
to intend the people and kingdom of France. — Orftery. 

It is perhaps in order to qualify this parallel that Swift ■ 
description of the two countries and made Lilliput tL. o,, t , 
island.— Sir Walter Scott. 




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


121 


terror of the universe, whose dominions extend five thousand 
blustrugs (about twelve miles in circumference) to the extre- 
mities of the globe ; monarch of all monarchs, taller than the 
sons of men ; whose feet press down to the centre, and whose 
head strikes against the sun ; at whose nod the princes of the 
earth shake their knees ; pleasant as the spring, comfortable 
as the summer, fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter. His 
most sublime Majesty proposes to the Man-mountain, lately 
arrived at our celestial dominions, the following articles, 
which, by a solemn oath, he shall be obliged to perform : 


I. The Man-mountain shall not depart from our dominions, 
without our license under our great seal. 

II. He shall not presume to come into our metropolis 
without our express order ; at which time the inhabitants 
shall have two hours’ warning to keep within doors. 

III. The said Man-mountain shall confine his walks to our 
principal high roads, and not offer to walk or lie down in a 
meadow or field of co^n. 

IV. As he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost 
care not to trample upon the bodies of any of oyr, loving 
subjects, their horses or carriages, nor take any of our sub- 
jects into his hands without their own consent. 

V. If an express requires extraordinary dispatch, the 
mountain shall be obliged to carry, in his pocket, the mes- 
senger and horse a six day’s journey once in every moon, and 
return the said messenger back (if so required) safe to our 
imperial presence. 

VI. He shall be our ally against our enemies in the island 
of Blefuscu, and do his utmost to destroy their fleet, which is 
now ww v ari r 'g’ to invade us. 

VI I. Tba; the said Man-mountain shall, at his time of 
■eLsure, b tiding and assisting to our workmen, in helping to 

6 


122 GULLIVER ^8 TRAVELS. 

raise certain great stones, towards covering the wall of the 
principal park, and other our royal buildings. 

VIII. That the said Man-mountain shall in two moons* 
time, deliver in an exact survey of the circumference of our 
dominions, by a computation of his own paces round the 
coast. 

Lastly, That, upon his solemn oath to observe all the 
above articles, the said Man-mountain shall have a daily 
allowance of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 
1724 of our subjects, with free access to our royal person, * 
and other marks of our favour. Given at our palace at 
Belfaborac, the twelth day of the ninety -first moon of our 
reign. 

I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheer- 
fulness and content, although some of them were not so 
honourable as I could have wished ; which proceeded wholly 
from the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam, the high-admiral ; 
whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was 
at full liberty. The emperor himself, in person, did me the 
honour to be by at the whole ceremony. I made my ac- 
knowledgments by prostrating myself at his majesty’s feet : 
but he commanded me to rise ; and after many gracious 
expressions, which to avoid the censure of vanity I shall not 
repeat, he added “ that he hoped I should prove a useful 
servant, and well deserve all the favours he had already con- 
ferred upon me, or might do for the future.” 

The reader may please to observe, that in the last article 
of the recovery of my liberty, the emperor stipulates to allow 
me a quantity of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 
1724 Lilliputians. Some time after, asking a friend at court 
how they came to fix on that determined number, he told me 
that his majesty’s mat eiiiaiicians, having taken the height 
of my body by the help of a ouadrant, and finding it to 


/ 

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 123 

exceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one, they con- 
cluded from the similarity of their bodies, that mine must 
contain at least 1*724 of theirs, and consequently would require 
as much food as was necessary to support that number of 
Lilliputians. By which the reader may conceive an idea of 
the ingenuity of that people, as well as the prudent and exact 
economy of so great a prince. 


V 


IM qulliver’s travels. 


CHAPTER IV. 

Mildendo, the metropolis of Lilliput, described, together with the emperor’s palace 
— A conversation between the author and a principal secretary, concerning the 
affairs of that empire — The author offers to serve the emperor in his wars. 

Liberty having been granted me, my first request was 
for permission to see Mildendo, the metropolis; which the 
emperor readily allowed me, but with a special charge to do 
no hurt either to the inhabitants or their houses. The people 
had notice, by proclamation, of my design to visit the town. 
The wall, which encompassed it, is two feet and a half high, 
and at least eleven inches broad, so that a coach and horses 
may be driven very safely round it ; and it is flanked with 
strong towers at ten feet distance. I stepped over the great 
western gate, and passed very gently and sidelong through 
the two principal streets only in my short waistcoat, for fear 
of damaging the roofs and eaves of the houses with the 
skirts of my coat. I walked with the utmost circumspection, 
to avoid treading on the stragglers who might remain in the 
streets ; although the orders were very strict, that all people 
should keep in their houses at their own peril. The garret 
windows and tops of houses were so crowded with spectators, 
that I thought in all my travels I had not seen a more popu- 
lous place. The city is an exact square, each side of the wall 
being five hundred feet long. The two great streets, which 
run across and divide it into four quarters, are five feet wide. 
The lanes and alleys, which I could not enter, but only viewed 


A VOYAGE TO £.!LLTf UT. 


125 


them us I passed, are from twelve to eighteen in. Vat 
town is capable of holding five hundred thou. : tho 

houses are from three to five stories : the shops and • > ..;k- u 
well provided. 

The emperor’s palace is in the centre of the city, where k 
two great streets meet. It is enclosed by a wall of two feet 
high, and twenty feet distance from the buildings. I had his 
majesty’s permission to step over this wall ; and the space 
being so wide between that and the palace, I could easily 
view it on every side. The outward court is a square of forty 
feet, and includes two other courts : in the inmost are the 
royal apartments, which I was very desirous to see, but found 
it extremely difficult; for the great gates, from one square 
into another, were but eighteen inches high, and seven inches 
wide. Now the buildings of the outer court were at least 
five feet high, and it was impossible for me to stride over 
them without infinite damage to the pile, though the walls 
were strongly built of hewn stone, and four inches thick. At 
the same time the emperor had a great desire that I should 
see the magnificence of his palace ; but this I was not able to 
do till three days after, which I spent in cutting down with 
my knife some of the largest trees in the royal park, about a 
hundred yards’ distance from the city. Of these trees I made 
two stools, each about three feet high, and strong enough to 
bear my weight. The people having received notice a second 
time, I went again through the city to the palace with my 
two stools in my hands. When I came to the side of the 
outer court, I stood upon one stool, and took the other in my 
hand ; this I lifted over the roof, and gently set it down on 
the space between the first and second court, which was eight 
feet wide. I then stepped over the building very conveniently 
from one stool to the other, and drew up the first aftei mo 
with a hooked stick. By this contrivance I got intc the 
inmost court ; and, lying down upon my side, I applied my 


126 


G U L L I . R ’ 8 TRAVELS. 


face to the w ; dov/s of the middle stories, which were left 
open oi> purpose, and discovered the most splendid apartments 
that can be imagined. 

There I saw,, the empress and the young princes, in their 
Bey oral lodgings, with their chief attendants about them. Her 
imperial majesty was pleased to smile very graciously upon 
me, and gave me out of the window her hand to kiss.* 

But I shall not anticipate the reader with further descrip- 
tions of this kind, because I reserve them for a greater work, 
which is now almost ready for the press ; containing a general 
description of the empire, from its first erection, through a 
long series of princes ; with a particular account of their wars 
and politics, laws, learning and religion ; their plants and 
animals ; their peculiar manners and customs, with other 
matters very curious and useful ; my chief design at present 
being only to relate such events and transactions as happened 
to the public or to myself during a residence of about nine 
months in that empire. 

One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my 
liberty, Reldresal, principal secretary (as they style him) for 
private affairs, came to my house attended only by one servant. 
He ordered Jiis coach to wait at a distance, and desired I 
would give him an hour’s audience ; which I readily consented 
to, on account of his quality and personal merits, as well as 
of the many good offices he had done me during my solici- 
tations at court. I offered to lie down that he might the more 
conveniently reach my ear , but he chose ratner to let me 
hold him in my hand during our conversation. He began 
with compliments on my liberty ; said “ he might pretend to 
some merit in it but however added, “ that if it had not 
been for the present situation of things at court, perhaps I 
might not have obtained it so soon. For,” said he, “ as flour- 

* The character of the empress is manifestly taken from that of Queen Aom- 
good-natured, but easily duped. 


A VO T A OK TO LI L LI PUT. 127 

isbing condition as we may appear to be in to foreigners, we 
labour under two mighty evils ; a violent faction at home, and 
the danger of an invasion, by a most potent enemy, from 
abroad. As to the first, you are to understand, that for above 
seventy moons past there have been two struggling parties in 
this empire, under the names of TramecJcsan and Slamecksan * 
from the high and low heels of their shoes, by which they 
distinguish themselves. It is alleged, indeed, that the high- 
heels are most agreeable to our ancient constitution ; but, 
however this be, his majesty has determined to make use only 
of low-heels in the administration of the government, and all 
offices in the gift of the crown, as you cannot but observe : 
and particularly that his majesty’s imperial heels are lower at 
least by a drurr than any of his court — ( drurr is a measure 
about the fourteenth part of an inch). The animosities be- 
tween these two parties run so high, that they will neither 
eat nor drink nor talk with each other. We compute the 
TramecJcsan , or high-heels, to exceed us in number ; but the 
power is wholly on our side. We apprehend his imperial 
highnes, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency 
towards the high heels ; at least, we can plainly discover that 
one of his heels is higher than the other, which gives him a 
hobble in his gaii.j Now, in the midst of these intestine dis- 


* High-church and Low-church, and Whig or Tory. As every accidental difference 
between man and man in person and circumstances is by this work rendered ex- 
tremely contemptible; sc speculative differences are shown to be equally ridiculous, 
when the zeal with which they are opposed and defended too much exceeds their 
importance. — Hawlcsworth . 

+ George, Prince of Wales, afterwards George II., was at this time vehement «in 
his hostility to his father’s ministers; like all heirs-apparent since the accession of 
the house of Brunswick, he chose his political friends among the parties most 
opposed to 4 the court, calling round him both the discontented wbigs and the dis- 
pleased tories. We learn from a letter of Mrs. Howard, that the prince was greatly 
amused at this description of his hobbling between the two political parties. On 
his accession to the throne, which took place shortly after the publication of Gulli- 
ver, he was easily induced by Queen Caroline to continue Sir Robert Walpole at the 
head of affairs ; an unexpected change, which greatly disappointed Swift and his 
friends. 


j L L L : : _ 


V E L 8 • 


128 


quiets, we are threatened with an invasion from the island of 
Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe, 
almost as large and powerful as this of his majesty. For as 
sto what we have heard you affirm, that there are other king- 
doms and states in the world inhabited by human creatures 
as large as yourself, our philosophers are in much doubt, and 
would rather conjecture that you dropped from the moon, or 
one of the stars ; because it is certain that a hundred mortals 
of your bulk would in a short time destroy all the fruits and 
cattle of his majesty’s dominions : besides, our histories of six 
thousand moons make no mention of any other regions than 
the two great empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two 
mighty powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged 
in a most obstinate war for six-and-thirty moons past. It 
began upon the following occasion : it is allowed on all hands^ 
that the primitive way of breaking eggs before we eat them, 
was upon the larger end ; but his present majesty’s grand- 
father, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking 
it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of 
his fingers ; whereupon the emperor, his father, published an 
edict, commanding all his subjects, under great penalties, to 
break the smaller end of their eggs.* The people so highly 
resented this law, that our histories tell us, there have been 
six rebellions raised on that account ; wherein one emperor 
lost his life,f and another his crown.J These civil com- 
motions were constantly fomented by the monarchs of Ble- 
fuscu ; and when they were quelled, the exiles always fled for 
refuge to that empire. It is computed that eleven thousand 
persons have at several times suffered death, rather than 
submit to break their eggs at the smaller end. Many hundred 

* The controversy respecting the sacraments between the Romish and Anglican 
churches is humourously portrayed in the dispute about the proper end of breaking 
the egg. The emperor who cut 1 is fingers is manifestly Henry VIII., who was so 
sadly perplexed by the sacrament if marriage, and the difficulty of divorce, 
t Charles L $ James II. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


129 


large volumes have been published upon this controversy : 
but the books of the Big-endians have been long forbidden, 
and the*whole party rendered incapable by law of holding 
employments. During the course of these troubles, the 
emperors of Blefuscu did frequently expostulate by their 
ambassadors, accusing us of making a schism in religion by 
offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet 
Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Blundecral, which 
is their Alcoran. This, however, is thought to be a mere 
strain upon the text ; for the words are these : that all true 
believers break their eggs at the convenient end ; and which 
is the convenient end seems, in my humble opinion, to be left 
to every man’s conscience, or at least in the power of the 
chief magistrate to determine.* 

“ Now the Big-endian exiles have found so much credit in 
the emperor of Blefuscu’s court, and so much private assis- 
tance and encouragement from their party here at home, that 
a bloody war has been carried on between the two empires 
for six and-thirty moons, with various success; during which 
time we have lost forty capital ships, and a much greater 
number of smaller vessels, together with thirty thousand of 
our best seamen and soldiers ; and the damage received by* 
the enemy is reckoned to be somewhat greater than ours. {* 
However, they have now equipped a numerous fleet, and ar 

* Swift appears to intimate that the .great point at issue between the Romish 
and English churches, the sacrament of the eucharist, has been decided too posi- 
tively by the theologians on both sides ; he intimates that the question of transulv 
stantiation should be left open to the faith of the receiver, in accordance with the 
memorable lines of Queen Elizabeth. 

Christ was the word that spake it 
He took the bread, and brake it, 

And what that word did make it * 

That I believe and take it. 

for the wars of the revolution, 
and the enumeration of the losses 
licate Harley and Bolin* 

bioko for bringing: it to a conclusion 

6 * 


130 


Gulliver's travels. 


just preparing to make a descent upon us ; and his imperial 
majesty, placing great confidence in your valour and strength, 
has commanded me to lay this account of his affairs before 
you.” 

I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the 
emperor ; and let him know, “ that I thought it would not 
become me, who was a foreigner, to interfere with parties ; 
)ut I was ready, with the hazard of my life, to defend his 
person and state against all invaders.”* 

* Gulliver, without examining the subject of dispute, readily engaged to defend 
;he emperor against invasion; because he knew that no such monarch had a right 
o Invade the dominions of another, for the propagation of truth.— Hawteworth. 




A VOYAGi; TO LILLI; U T 


131 


CHAPTER Y. 

The author, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an invasion— A high tii i 
honour is conferred upon him — Ambassadors arrive from the Emperor of Blefuscu, 
and sue for peace — The Empress’s apartments on fire by accident; the author 
instrumental in saving the rest of the palace. 

Lilliput is part of the continent, but the empire of 
Blefuscu is an island situated to the north-east of the main- 
land, from which it is parted only by a channel of eight 
hundred yards wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon this 
notice of an intended invasion, I avoided appearing on that 
side of the coast, for fear of being discovered by some of the 
enemy’s ships, who had received no intelligence of me ; all 
intercourse between the two empires having been strictly for- 
bidden during the war upon pain of death, and an embargo 
laid by our emperor upon all vessels whatsoever. I commu- 
nicated to his majestic a project I had formed of seizing the 
enemy’s whole fleet ; which, as our scouts assured us, lay at 
anchor in the harbour, ready to sail with the first fair wind. 
I consulted the most experienced seamen upon the depth of 
the channel, which they had often plumbed ; who told me, 
that in the middle, at high water, it was seventy glumgluffs 
deep, which is about six feet of European measure ; and the 
rest of it fifty glumgluffs at most. I walked towards the 
north-east coast, over against Blefuscu ; where, lying down 
. nd a hillock, I took out my small perspective glass and 
id the enemy’s fleet at anchor, consisting of about fifty 
> ^f- war, and a great number of transports: I then came 


Gulliver’s travels. 

back to my house, and gavo orders (for which I had a war- 
rant,) for a great quantity of the strongest cable and bars of 
o cable was about as thick as packthread, and the 
bars of a length and size of a knitting-needle. I trebled the 
cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason, I twisted 
three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into a 
hook. Having thus fixed fifty hooks to as many cables, I 
went back to the north-east coast, and putting off my coat* 
shoes and stockings, walked into the sea in my leathern jerkin ; 
about half an hour before high water. I waded with what 
haste I could, and swam in the middle about thirty yards, till 
I felt ground. I arrived at the fleet in less than half an hour. 
The enemy was so frightened when they saw me, that they 
leaped out of their ships, and swam to shore, where there 
could not be fewer than thirty thousand souls : I then took 
my tackling, and fastening a hook to the hole at the prow of 
each, I tied all the cords together at the end. While I was 
thus employed, the enemy discharged several thousand arrows, 
many of which stuck in my hands and face ; and, besides the 
excessive smart, gave me much disturbance in my work. My 
greatest apprehension was for mine eyes, which I should have 
infallibly lost, if I had not suddenly thought of an expedient. 
I kept, among other little necessaries, a pair of spectacles in 
a private pocket, which, as I observed before, had escaped the 
emperor’s searchers. These I took out and fastened as 
strongly as I could upon my nose, and thus armed, went on 
boldly with my work, in spite of the enemy’s arrows, many 
of which struck against the glasses of my spectacles, but 
without any other effect, farther than a little to discompose 
them. I had now fastened all the hooks, and taking the 
knot in my hand, began to pull ; but not a ship would stir, 
for they were all too fast held by their anchors, so that the 
boldest part of my enterprise remained. I therefore let go 
the cord, and leaving the hooks fixed to the ships, I resolutely 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT, 


133 


cut with my knife the cables that fastened the anchors, receiv- 
ing about two hundred arrows in my face and hands ; then I 
took up the knotted end of the cables, to which my hooks 
were tied, and with great ease drew fifty of the enemy’s 
largest men-of-war after me. 

The Blefuscudians, who had not the least imagination of 
what I intended, were at first confounded with astonishment. 
They had seen me cut the cables, and thought my design was 
only to let the ships run adrift, or fall foul on each other ; but 
when they perceived the whole fleet moving in order, and saw 
me pulling at the end, they set up such a scream of grief and 
despair as it is almost impossible to describe or conceive.* 
When I had got out of danger, I stopped awhile to pick out 
the arrows that stuck in my hands and face ; and rubbed on 
some of the same ointment that was given me on my first 
arrival, as I have formerly mentioned. I then took off my 
spectacles, and waiting about an honr till the tide was a little 
fallen, I waded through the middle with my cargo, and 
arrived safe at the royal port of Lilliput. 

The emperor and his whole court stood on the shore, 
expecting the issue of this great adventure. They saw the 
ships move forward in a large half-moon, but could not dis- 
cern me, who was up to my breast in water. When I 
advanced to the middle of the channel, they were yet more in 
pain, because I was under water to my neck. The emperor 
concluded me to be drowned, and that the enemy’s fleet was 
approaching in a hostile manner ; but he was soon eased of 
his fears ; for the channel growing shallower every step I 
made, I came in a short time within hearing, and holding up the 
end of the cable, by which the fleet was fastened, I cried, in 

* The capture of the Blefuscudian fleet is intended to represent the efforts made 
by the tory ministry to secure the naval supremacy of England in the negotiations 
at Utrecht, and particularly their success in procuring the demolition of Dunkirk 

and C: cession of several French colonies. 


134 


GDLLIVEr’s TRAVELS. 

% 

a loud voice,. “Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput H ; 
This great prince received me at my landing with all possible 
encomiums, and created me a nardac upon the spot, which is 
the highest title of honour amon^ them.* 

His majesty desired I would take some other opportunity 
of bringing all the rest of his enemy’s ships into his ports. 
And so unmeasurable is the ambition of princes, that he 
seemed to think of nothing less than reducing the whole 
empire of Blefuscu into a province, and governing it by a 
viceroy ; of destroying the Big-endian exiles, and compelling 
that people to break the smaller end of their eggs, by which 
he would remain the sole monarch of the whole world. But 
I /endeavoured to divert him from this design, by many argu- 
ments drawn from the topics of policy as well as justice; and 

* The treaty at Utrecht was at first very popular with the English people ; and it was 
regarded by Queen Anne as a blessing to England and to Europe. The promised 
demolition of Dunkirk, and its surrender as a guarantee to General Hill, were 
regarded not only by the court, but by the nation, as an advantage scarcely infe- 
rior to what the capture of the Blefuscudian fleet would have been to the emperor 
of Lilliput. Swift wrote a song on the event, which was very popular. The follow* 
ing are the concluding stanzas : — 

Our merchant ships may cut the line, 

And not be snapt by privateers ; 

And commoners who love good wine, 

Will drink it now as well as peers ; 

Landed men shall have their rent, 

Yet our stocks rise cent, per cent. ; 

The Dutch from hence shall no more millions drain: 

We’ll bring on us no more debts, 

Nor with bankrupts fill gazettes; 

And the queen shall enjoy her own again. 

The towns we took ne’er did us good : 

What signified the French to beat? 

We spent our money and our blood 
To make the Dutchmen proud and great : 

. But the lord of Oxford swears 
Dunkirk never shall be theirs ; 

The Dutch-hearted whigs may rail and complain ; 

But true Englishmen may fill 
A health to General Hill, 

For the queen now enjoys her own again. 





A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 

I plainly protested, “that I would never be an instrument of 
bringing a free and brave people into slavery;” ar. i - Lon the 
matter was debated in council, the wisest part of the ministry 
were of my opinion.* 

This open, bold declaration of mine, was so opposite to the 
schemes and politics of his imperial majesty, that he could 
never forgive me. He mentioned it in a very artful manner 
at council, where I was told that some of the wisest appeared 
at least, by their silence, to be of my opinion ; but others, 
who were my secret enemies, could not forbear some expres- 
sions which by a side wind reflected on me ; and from this 
time began an intrigue between his majesty, and a junto of 
ministers, maliciously bent against me, which broke out in 
less than two months, and had like to have ended in my utter 
destruction. Of so little weight are the greatest services to 
princes, when put into the balance with a refusal to gratify 
their passions. 

About three weeks after this exploit, there arrived a solemn 
embassy from Blefuscu, with humble offers of a peace ; which 
was soon concluded, upon conditions very advantageous to 
our emperor, wherewith I shall not trouble the reader. There 
w r ere six ambassadors with a train of about five hundred per- 
sons : and their entry was very magnificent, suitable to the 
grandeur of their master, and the importance of their business. 
When their treaty was finished, wherein I did them several 
good offices by the credit I now had, or at least appeared to 
ha* T e, at court, their excellencies, who were privately told how 


* The conquest of France was seriously bedeved feasible by many friends of the 
Duke of Marlborough ; but when the siege of such a petty fortress as Bouchain oc- 
cupied the greater part of one campaign, the best English statesmen saw there was 
little chance of such a consummation. Mesnager, if the memoirs published in his 
name be not a»forgery, declares that the tories used to annoy the whigs by asking 
“ How long will it take to conquer France at the rate of a Bouchain per summer ?” 
In the debates on the treaty of Utrecht (a. d. 1713), the advocates for peace had 
decidedly the best of the argument, so that Gulliver is justified in saying that 
“ the wisest were of his opinion.” 


t ,*>0 GULLIYER S TRAVELS. 

vn-\ h I had been their friend, made me a visit in form 
Th an with many compliments upon ray valour and 
geuei^siiy, invited me to that kingdom in the emperor their 
master’s name, and desired me to show them some proofs of 
my prodigious strength, of which they had heard so many 41 
wonders ; wherein I readily obliged them, but shall not 
trouble the reader with the particulars. 

When I had for some time entertained their excellencies, 
to their infinite satisfaction and surprise, I desired they would • 
do me the honour to present my most humble respects to the 
emperor their master, the renown of whose virtues had so 
justly filled the whole world with admiration, and whose 
royal person I resolved to attend before I returned to my own 
country. Accordingly, the next time I had the honour to 
see our emperor, I desired his general license to wait on the 
Blefuscudian monarch, which he was pleased to grant me, as 
I could perceive, in a very cold manner ; but could not guess 
the reason, till I had a whisper from a certain person, “ that 
Flimnap and Bolgolam had represented my intercourse with 
those ambassadors as a mark of disaffection from which 
I am sure my heart was wholly free. And this was the first 
time I began to conceive some imperfect idea of courts and 
ministers.* 

It is to be observed, that these ambassadors spoke to me by 
an interpreter, the languages of both empires differing as much 
from each other as any two in Europe, and each nation 
priding itself upon the antiquity, beauty, and energy of their 
own tongue, with an avowed contempt for that of their 


* The charge raised against Gulliver for his innocent intercourse with the ambas- 
sadors from Blefuscu alludes to the chief accusation brought against Bolingbroke 
(a. d, 1715), which was his treasonable intimacy with the French ministers during 
the negotiations of the peace at Utrecht. Bolingbroke’s journey to France to nego- 
tiate a separate peace, and his clandestine intercourse with the agents of Louis, 
were, however, of such a suspicious nature, that he did not think it prudent to wait 
for his trial. 


A YOTAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


neighbour: yet our emperor, standing upon the 
he had got by the seizure of their fleet, oblige' 
deliver their credentials, and make their speech, in the Lilli- 
putian tongue. And it must be confessed, that from the great 
d intercourse of trade and commerce between both realms, from 
the continual reception of exiles which is mutual among them, 
and from the custom, in each empire, to send their young 
nobility and richer gentry to the other, in order to polish 
themselves by seeing the world, and understanding men and 
manners ; there are few persons of distinction, or merchants, 
or seamen, who dwell in the maritime parts, but what can 
hold conversation in both tongues ; as I found some weeks 
after, when I went to pay my respects to the emperor of Ble- 
fuscu, which, in the midst of great misfortunes, through the 
malice of my enemies, proved a very happy adventure to me, 
as I shall relate in its proper place. 

The reader may remember, that when I signed those 
articles upon which I recovered my liberty, there were some 
which I disliked, upon account of their being too servile ; 
neither could any thing but an extreme necessity have forced 
me ^o submit. But being now a nardac of the highest rank 
in that empire, such offices were looked upon as below my dig- 
nity, and the emperor (to do him justice) never once mentioned 
them to me. However, it was not long before I had an 
opportunity of doing his majesty, at least as I then thought, 
a most signal service. I was alarmed at midnight with the 
cries of many hundred people at my door ; by which, being 
suddenly awaked, I was in some kind of terror. I heard the 
word burglum repeated incessantly : several of the emperor’s 
court making their way through the crowd, entreated me to 
come immediately to the palace where her imperial majesty’s 
apartment was on fire, by the carelessness of a maid of honour, 
who fell asleep while she was reading a romance. I got up 
in an instant; and orders being given to clear the way befcre 


gulliver’s travels, 


me, and it being likewise a moonshine night, I made a shift 
to get ',o the palace without trampling on any of the people. 

I found they had already applied ladders to tie walls of the 
apartment, and were well provided with buckets, but the water 
was at some distance. These buckets were about the size of a £ 
large thimble, and the poor people supplied mo with them as 
fast as they could ; but the flame was so violent that they did 
little good. I might easily have stifled it with my coat, which 
I unfortunately left behind me for haste, and came away only 4 
in my leathern jerkin. The case seemed wholly desperate and 
deplorable ; and this magnificent palace would have infallibly 
been burnt down to the ground, if, by a presence of mind 
unusual to me, I had not suddenly thought of an expedient. 

I had the evening before drunk plentifully of a most delicious <? 
wine called glimigrim (the Blefuscudians call it jlunec), but 
ours is esteemed the better sort, which is very diuretic. By 
the luckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged myself 
of any part of it. The heat I had contracted by coming 
very near the flames, and by labouring to quench them, made 
the wine begin to operate by urine which I voided in such a 
quantity, and applied so well to the proper places, that in 
three minutes the fire was wholly extinguished, and the rest 
of that noble pile, which bad cost so many ages in erecting, 
preserved from destruction. 

It was now daylight, and I had returned to my house 
without waiting to congratulate the emperor ; because 
although I had done a very eminent piece of service, yet I 
could not tell how his majesty might resent the manner by 
which I had performed it : for by the fundamental laws of the 
realm, it is capital in any person, of what quality soever, 
to make water within the precincts of the palace. But I was 
a little comforted by a message from his majesty, “ that he 
would give orders to the grand justiciary for passing my 
pardon in form which however, I could not obtain ; and I 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPDT 


130 


was privately assured, that the empress, conceivin 
est abhorrence of what I had done, removed t 
distant side of the court, firmly resolved that thoLv. ~ : ,! o ‘ 

should never be repaired for her use ; and, in the presence of 
her chief confidents, could not forbear vowing revenge.* 

* Swift, in this description of the empress’s hostility on account of his indecency, 
and her forgetfulness of the essential service which he had rendered, alludes to the 
prejudices of Queen Anne, who was more indignant at the immorality of his 
p writings than grateful for his support to her favourite ministry. The Queen bad 
actually nominated Swift to an English Bishopric, when Dr. Sharp, archbishop of 
York, went to the Queen, showed her the “ Tale of a Tub,” and declared that the author 
of such a work could not be made a prelate without bringing disgrace on the church. 
Hence Swift, in the lines on himself, complains that he is 

By an old pursued, 

A crazy prelate and a royal prude. 

And again, 

York is from Lambeth sent to show the queen 
A dangerous treatise writ against the spleen, 

Which, by the style, the matter, and the drift, 

’Tis thought could be the work of none but Swift. 

The Archbishop was eagerly seconded by the Duchess of Somerset, whom 
had bitterly lampooned. The Queen could never afterwards be persuaded tore / -k« 
h«r determination, and Swift thenceforth always spoke of her in terms of conte 


CHAPTER VI.* 


Of the inhabitants of Lilliput; their learning, laws, and customs; the manner ot 
^educating their children — The author’s way of living in that country — His vindk 
cation of a great lady. 


Quarrels and intrigues are so common in courts, that I 
need not dwell on the calumnies devised by the envious to 
prejudice the mind of the empress still further against me, and 
I shall therefore turn to a different subject. Although I 
intend to leave the description of this empire to a particular 
treatise, yet, in the mean time, I am content to gratify the 
curious reader with some general ideas. As the common size 
of the natives is somewhat under six inches high, so there is 
an exact proportion in all other animals, as well as plants and 
trees ; for instance, the tallest horses and oxen are between 
four and five inches in height, the sheep an inch and a half, 
more or less ; their geese about the bigness of a sparrow, and 
so the several gradations downwards, till you c me to the 
smallest, which, to my sight were almost invisible ; but nature 
has adapted the eyes of the Lilliputians to all objects proper 
for their view ; they see with great exactness, but at no great 


♦In a German critique on Gulliver’s Travels, this chapter has been rather 
severely censured, because the author has neglected to give any particulars of the 
Lilliputian climate and its effects ; a source from which the review avers, that many 
circumstances might have been deduced which would give ai y 

to the narrative. It must be observed, however, in Swifts ii ‘Jfie-U > > 

neglect of observing climate and its peculiarities is common 
tives of voyagers, and also that for the purposes of his sat 
identify the Lilliputian climate with that, of England. 


A VOYAGE TO L I .MPT" 

distance. And to show the sharps • ‘r -- 1 j t toward: 

objects that are near, I have been n iu h pleas', - ' cook 
pulling a lark, "Which was not so large ax a coiro.i , ! 

a young girl threading an invisible needle with invisible silk. 

Their tallest 'trees are about seven feet high, I mean some 
ofyhose in the great royal park, the tops whereof I could but 
just reach with my fist clenched. The other vegetables are 
in the same proportion ; but this I leave to the reader’s inn • 
ination. 

I shall say but little at present of their learning, which 
many ages has flourished in all its branches among thei ; 
but their manner of writing is very peculiar, being neith r 
, from the left to the right like the Europeans ; 





nor from the right to the left like the Arabians ; 

O 1 




nor from up to down, like the Chinese ; 


% 


T 




& 

& 


but aslant, from one corner of the paper to the other, like 
ladies in England. 

They bury their dead with their heads directly downward, 
because they hold an opinion that in eleven thousand moon3 
are o rise again; in which period the earth (which 
t i i f*. v to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this 

all, at their resurrection, be found ready stand- 


i 


Gulliver’s travels. 


14-2 


, their feet. The learned among them confess the 
absurdity of this doctrine; but the practice still continues, in 
c mpliarice to the vulgar. 

There are some laws and customs in this empire very 
peculiar; and if they were not so directly contrary to those * 
of my own dear country, I should be tempted to say a littlf in 
their justification. It is only to be wished they were as well 
executed. The first I shall mention, relates to informers. All 
crimes against the state are punished here with the utmost 
severity; but if the person accused makes his innocence 
plainly to appear upon his trial, the accuser is immediately put 
to an ignominious death ; and out of his goods or lands the 
innocent person is quadruply recompensed for the loss of his 
time, for the danger he underwent, for the hardship of hi3 
imprisonment, and for all the charges he has been at in mak- 
ing his defence ; or, if that fund bq deficient, it is largely sup- 
plied by the crown. The emperor also confers on him some 
public mark of, his favour, and proclamation is made of his 
innocence through the whole city. 

They look upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and 
therefore seldom fail to punish it with death ; for they allege, 
that care and vigilance, with a very common understanding, 
may preserve a man’s goods from thieves, but honesty has no 
fence against superior cunning; and since it is necessary that 
there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and selling, 
and dealing upon credit, where fraud is permitted and con- 
nived at, or has no law to punish it, the honest dealer is * 
always undone, and the knave gets the advantage. ' I remem- 
ber, when I was once interceding with the king for a criminal 
who had wronged his master of a great sum of money, which 
he received by order, and ran away with ; and happening to 
tell his majesty by \- 

breach of trust, the emp f J it i 

ofier as a defence the 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


143 


tally I had little to say in return, farther than tl imon 
answer, that different nations had different cust< , for, I 
confess I was heartily ashamed.* 

Although we call rewards and punishments the two 
hinges upon which all government turns, yet I could 
nevjr observe this maxim to be put in practice by any 
nation except that of Lilliput. Whoever can there bring suffi- 
cient proof that he has strictly observed the laws of his country 
for seventy-three moons, has a claim to certain privileges, 
according to his quality and condition of life, with a propor- 
tionable sum of money out of a fund appropriated for that use ; 
he likewise acquires the title of snilpall , or legal, which is 
added to his name, but dqes not descend to his posterity. 
And these people thought it a prodigious defect of policy 
among us when I told them that our laws were enforced only 
by penalties, without any mention of reward. It is upon this 
account that the image of Justice, in their courts of judicature, 
is formed with six eyes, two before, as many behind, and on 
each side one, to signify circumspection ; with a bag of gold 
open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to 
show' that she is more disposed to reward than to punish. 

In choosing persons for ail employments, they have more 
regard to good morals than to great abilities ; for since govern- 
ment is necessary to mankind, they believe that the common 
size of human understanding is suited to some station or other ; 
and that Providence never intended to make the management 
of public affairs a mystery to be comprehended only by a few 
persons of sublime genius, of which there seldom are three 
born in an age : but they suppose truth, justice, temperance, 
and the like, to be in every man’s power ; the practice of which 
virtues, assisted by experience and a good -Intention, would" 
quabVj any man for the service of his country, except where 

*An act of parliament ha- since been passed, by -which some breaches of true# 
have been made capital — Or iff. 


Gulliver’s travels. 


144 


of study is required. But they thought the want of 
virtues was so far from being supplied by superior 
endowments of the mind, that employments could never be 
put into such dangerous hands as those of persons so qualified ; 
and at least, that the mistakes committed by ignorance, in a 
virtuous disposition, would never be of such fatal consequence 
to the public weal, as the “practices of a man whose inclina- 
tions led him to be corrupt, and who had great abilities to 
manage, to multiply and defend his eorruptions.<L..-~ 

In like manner the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders 
a man incapable of holding any public station ; for since 
s kings avow themselves to be the deputies of Providence, the 
Li liputians think nothing can be more absurd than for a prince 
to employ such men as disown the authority under which he 
rets. 

* In relating these and the following laws, I would only 
be understood to mean the original institutions, and not the 
most scandalous corruptions, into which these people are 
fallen by the degenerate nature of man. For, as to that infa- 
mous practice of acquiring great employments by dancing on 
ropes, or badges of favour and distinction by leaping sticks 
and creeping under them, the reader is to observe th?*t they 
were first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor now 
reigning, and grew to the present height by the gradual 
increase of party and faction.* 

Ingratitude is among them a capital crime, as we read 
it to have been so in some other countries : for they reason 
thus ; that whoever makes ill returns to his benefactor, must 
needs b< the rest of mankind, from whom 

he has - : * obi’.;., n, and therefore such a man is 

not fit to 

Their ■ - '• ’ ** duties - T .‘•.'o' .. . 

* The author alludes to the prpd nours, and the lavish distribution 

of titles, in the reign of James 1. 




-A. ' OT AGE TO LILL1PUT. 


145 


dhlci eitremfcij *rom ours. For since the conjunction of 
male and female is founded upon the great law of nature, in 
order to propagate and continue the species, the Lilliputians 
will needs have it, that men and women are joined together 
like other animals, by die motives of concupiscence ; and that 
their tenderness towards their young proceeds from the like 
natural principle ; for which reason they will never allow 
that a child is under any obligation to his father for begetting 
him, or to his mother for bringing him into the world ; which, 
considering the miseries of human life, was neither a benefit/^ 
in itself, nor intended so by his parents, whose thoughts yi 
their love encounters, were otherwise employed.* Upon 
these, and the like reasonings, their opinion is, that parents 
are the last of all others to be trusted with the education of 
their own children ; and therefore they have in every towji 
public nurseries, where all parents, except cottagers and labour- 
ers, are obliged to send their infants of both sexes to be 
reared and educated, when they come to the age of twenty 
moons, at which time they are supposed to have some rudi- 
ments of docility. These schools are of several kinds, suited 
to different qualities, and both sexes. They have certain pro- 
fessors well skilled for preparing children for such a condi- 
tion of life as befits the ranks of their parents, and their own 
capacities, as well as inclinations. I shall first say something 
of the male nurseries and then of the female. 

The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth are pro- 
vided with grave and learned professors, and their several 
deputies. The clothes and food of the children are plain 
and simple. They are bred up in the principles of honour, 
justice, courage, modesty, clemency, religion, and love of their 
country ; they are always employed in some business, except 

. - . " •• ■ * is borrowed from Cyrui-o £ i 

. tiif. itvl a •; e with whom it v th« rule ths»< 

p&rencb *houM obey t.-en vfittSjren. 




146 


GULLIVERS ^RA^ 


in the times of eating and sleeping, which are very short, and 
two hours for diversions, consisting of bodily exercises. They 
are dressed by men till four years of age, and then are obliged 
to. dress themselves, although their quality be ever so great; 
and the women attendants, who are aged proportion ably to 
ours at fifty, perform only the most menial offices. They are 
never suffered to converse with servants, but go together in 
smaller or greater numbers, to take their diversions, and 
always in the presence of a professor, or one of his deputies ; 
whereby they avoid those early bad impressions of folly and 
vice, to which our children are subject. Their parents are suf- 
fered to see them twice only a year ; the visit is to last but an 
1 our ; they are allowed to kiss the child at meeting and part- 
ing ; but a professor who always stands by on those occasions, 
will not suffer them to whisper, or use any fondling expressions, 
or bring any presents of toys, sweetmeats, and the like. 

The pension for each family for the education and enter- 
tainment of a child, upon failure of due payment, is levied 
by the emperor’s officers. 

The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen, merchants, 
traders, and handicrafts, are managed proportion ably after 
the same manner ; only those designed for trades are put out 
apprentices at eleven years old : whereas those of persons of 
quality continue in their exercises till fifteen, which answers 
to twenty-one with us ; but the confinement is gradually 
lessened for the last three years. 

In the female nurseries, the young girls of quality are 
educated much like the males, only they are dressed by 
orderly servants of their own sex ; but always in the presence 
ot a professor or deputy, till they come to dress themselves, 
whicn is at five years old. And if it be found that these 
nurses ever esume to entertain the girls with frightful or 
foolish storie . or the common follies practised by chambei- 
maids among us, they are publicly whipped thrice about the 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


147 


city, imprisoned for a year, and banislied for life to the most 
desolate part of the country. Thus the young ladies there 
are as much ashamed of being cowards and fools as the men, 
and despise all personal ornaments, beyond decency and 
cleanliness : neither did I perceive any difference in their 
education made by their difference of sex, only that the 
exercises of the females were not altogether so robust ; and 
that some rules were given them relating to domestic life, 
and a smaller compass of learning was enjoined them ; for 
their maxim is, that among people* of quality, a wife should 
be always a reasonable and agreeable companion, because 
she cannot be always young. When the girls are twelve 
years old, which among them is the marriageable age, their 
parents or guardians take them home, with great expressions 
of gratitude to the professors, and seldom without the tears 
of the young lady ^d her companions. 

In the nurseries of the females of the meaner sort, the 
children are instructed in all kinds of work proper for their 
sex, and their several degrees ; those intended for apprentices 
are dismissed at seven years old, the rest are kept until eleven. 

The meaner families who have children at these nurseries 
are obliged, beside their annual pension, which is as low as 
possible, to return to the steward of the nursery a small 
monthly share of their gettings, to be a portion for the child ; 
and therefore all parents are limited in their expenses by the 
law. For the Lilliputians think that nothing can be more 
unjust, than for people, in subservience to their own appetites, 
to bring children into the world, and leave the burden of 
supporting them upon the public. As to persons of quality, 
they give security to appropriate a certain sum for each child, 
suitable to - their condition : and these funds are always 
managed with good husbandry and the most exact justice. 

The cottagers and labourers keep their children at home, 
their business being only to till and cultivate the earth, and 


148 


Gulliver’s travels. 


therefore their education is of little consequence to the public : 
but the old and diseased among them are supported by 
hospitals ; for begging is a trade unknown in this e ni- 
pire. # . 

And here it may, perhaps, divert the curious reader, to give 
some account of my domestics, and my manner of living in 
this country, during a residence of nine months and thirteen 
days. Having a head mechanically turned, and being like- 
wise forced by necessity, I had made for myself a table and 
chair convenient enough, out of the largest trees in the royal 
park. Two hundred sempstresses were employed to make me 
shirts and linen for my bed and table, all of the strongest and 
coarsest kind they could^get, which, however, they were 
forced to quilt together in several folds, for the thickest was 
some degrees' finer than lawn. Their linen is usually three 
inches wide, and three feet make a piec^ The sempstresses 
took my measure as I lay on the ground, one standing at my 
neck, and another at my mid- leg, with a strong cord extended, 
that each held by the end, while a third measured the length 
of the cord with a rule of an inch long. Then they measured 
my right thumb, and desired no more ; for by a mathematical 
computation, that twice round the thumb is once round the 
wrist, and so on to the neck and the waist, and by the help 
of my old shirt, which I displayed on the ground before 
them for a pattern ; they fitted me exactly. Three hundred 
tailors were employed in the same manner to make me 
clothes ; but they had another contrivance for taking my 
measure. I kneeled down, and they raised a ladder from the 
ground to my neck : upon this ladder one of them mounted, 
and let fall a plumb-line from my collar to the floor, which 
just answered the length of my coat ; but my waist and arms 
I measured myself. When my clothes were finished, which 
was done in my house (for the largest of theirs would not 
have been able to hold them) they looked like the patchwork 


A VOYAGE TO LILLI PUT. 


149 


made by the ladies in England, only that mine were all of a 
colour. 

I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals, in little 
convenient huts built about my house, where they and their 
families lived, and prepared me two dishes a-piece. I took 
up twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the 
table ; a hundred more attended below on the ground, some 
with dishes of meat and some with barrels of wine and other 
liquors slung on their shoulders, all which the waiters above 
drew up, as I wanted, in a very ingenious manner, by certain 
cords, as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe. A dish 
of their meat was a good mouthful, and a barrel of their 
liquor a reasonable draught. Their mutton yields to ours, 
but their beef is excellent. I have had a surloin so large, 
that I have been forced to make three bites of it ; but this is 
rare. My servants were astonished to see me eat it, bones 
and all, as in our country we do the leg of a lark. Their 
geese and turkeys I usually ate at a mouthful, and I confess 
they far exceed ours. Of their smaller fowl, I could take up 
twenty or thirty at the end of my knife. 

One day his imperial majesty, being informed of my way 
of living, desired “ that himself and his royal consort, with 
the young princes of the blood of both sexes, might have the 
happiness,” as he was pleased to call it, “ of dining with me.” 
They came accordingly, and I placed them in chairs of state 
upon my table, just over against me, with their guards about 
them. Flimnap, the lord high-treasurer, attended there 
likewise, with his white staff ; and I observed he often looked 
on me with a sour countenance, which I would not seem to 
regard, but ate more than usual, in honour of my dear coun- 
try, as well as to fill the court with admiration. I have tome 
private reasons to believe, that this visit from his majesty gave 
Flimnap an opportunity of doing me ill offices to his mailer. 
That minister had always been my secret enemy, though ^ 


150 


gulliver’s travels. 


outwardly caressed me more than, was usual to the morose- 
ness of his nature. He represented to the emperor “ the 
low condition of his treasury ; that he was forced to take up 
money at a great discount ; that exchequer bills would not 
circulate under nine per cent, below par ; that I had cost his 
majesty above a million and a half of sprugs (their greatest 
gold coin, about the bigness of a spangle) ; and upon the 
whole, that it would be advisable to the emperor to take the 
first fair occasion of dismissing me.”* 

I am here obliged to vindicate the reputation of an excel- 
lent lady, who was an innocent sufferer on my account. The 
treasurer took a fancy to be jealous of his wife, from the 
malice of some evil tongues, who informed him that her 
Grace had taken a violent affection for my person ; and the 
court scandal ran for some time, that she once came privately 
to my lodging. This I solemnly declare to be a most infamous 
falsehood, without any grounds, farther than that her Grace 
was pleased to treat me with all innocent marks of freedom 
and friendship. I own she came often to my house, but 
always publicly, nor ever without three more in the coach, 
who were usually her sister and young daughter, and some 
particular acquaintance ; but this was common to many other 
ladies of the court ; and I still appeal to my servants round 
whether they at any time saw a coach at my door without 
knowing what persons were in it. On those occasions, when 
a servant had given me notice, my custom was to go.imme* 
diately to the door ; and after paying my respects, to take up 
the coach and two horses very carefully in my hands (for, if 
there were six horses, the postillion always unharnessed four), 
and place them on a table, where I had fixed a moveable rim 
quite round, of five, inches high, to prevent accidents ; and I 
have often had four coaches and horses at once on my table, 

* Sir Robert Walpoie was often reproached with false economy, — no uncommon 
topic of railing against the whigs. The parsimonious disposition of George I. has 
been already noticed. 


A VOYAGE TO ULLIPUT. 


151 


full of company, while I sat in my chair, leani * . face 
towards them ; and when I was engaged with one set. the 
coachmen would gently drive the others round my table. I 
have passed many an afternoon very agreeably in these c m- 
versations. But I defy the treasurer, or his two informers (I 
will name them, and let them make the best of it), Clustril 
and Drunlo, to prove that any person ever came to me incog- 
nito, except the secretary Reldresal, who was sent by express 
command of his imperial majesty, as I have before related. 
I should not have dwelt so long on this- particular, if it had 
not been a point wherein the reputation of a great lady is so 
nearly concerned,* to say nothing of my own ; though I then 
had the honour to be a nardac, which the treasurer himself is 
not ; for all the world knows he is only a glumglum, a title 
inferior by one degree, as that of a marquis is to a duke in 
England ; yet I allow he preceded me in right of his post. 
These false informations, which I afterwards came to the 
knowledge of by an incident not proper to mention, made 
the treasurer show his lady for some time an ill countenance, 
and me a worse ; and although he was at last undeceived and 
reconciled to her, yet I lost all credit with him, and found my 
interest decline very fast with the emperor himself* who was, 
indeed, too much governed by that favourite. 

* The Dean probably alludes to the inquiries made into Bolingbroke’s intrigues 
by the Committee, 1715, and particularly that which he was suspected of having 
formed with Madame Tencin. There are few passages in this work which can com* 
pete grave and quiet humour with Gulliver’s earnest defence of the lady’s ch* 
rae^r 


m 


gullitek’s travels. 


CHAPTER VI. 


The author being informed of a design to accuse him of high treason, makes hit 
escape to Blefuscu — His reception there. 


An account of my leaving this kingdom may properly be 
prefaced by some particulars of a private intrigue which had 
been for two months forming against me. I had been hith- 
erto, all my life, a stranger to courts, for which I was unqua- 
lified by the meanness of my condition. I had indeed heard 
and read enough of the dispositions of great princes and 
ministers; but never expected to have found such terrible 
effects of them in so remote a country, governed, as I thought, 
by very different maxims from those in Europe. 

When I was just preparing to pay my attendance on the 
emperor of Blefuscu, a considerable person at court (to whom 
I had been very serviceable, at a time when he lay under the 
highest displeasure of his imperial majesty), came to my 
house very privately at night, in a close chair, and, without 
sending his name, desired admittance. The chairmen were 
dismissed ; I put the chair, with his lordship in it, into my 
coat-pocket ; and giving orders to a trusty servant, to say I 
was indisposed and gone to sleep, I fastened the door of my 
house, placed the chair on .the table, according to my usual 
custom, and sat down by it. After the common salutations 
were over, observing his lordship’s countenance full of con- 
cern, and inquiring into the reason, he desired “ I would hear 
him with palience, in a matter that highly concerned mv 




A V 0 T AGE O LILLI 


honour and my life” His speech was tot ' - 1 enect, 

for I took notes of it as soon as he left me 


“You are to know,” said he, “that seve. il con tees of 
council have been lately called, in the most private manner, on 
your account ; and it is but two days since his majesty came 
to a full resolution. 

“ You are very sensible that Skyresh Bolgolam ( galbet , or 
high admiral), has been your mortal enemy, almost ever since 
your arrival. His original reasons I know not ; but his hatred 
is increased since your great success against Blefuscu, by 
which his glory as admiral is much obscured. This lord, in 
conjunction with Flimnap, the high treasurer, whose enmit 
against you is notorious on account of his lady, Limtoc the 
general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand jus- 
ticiary, have prepared articles of impeachment against yoi 
for treason and other capital crimes.” 

This preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my 
own merit and innocence, that I was going to interrupt him . 
when he entreated me to be silent, and thus proceeded. 

“ Out of gratitude for the favors you have done me, I pro- 
cured information of the whole proceedings, and a copy ol 
the articles ; wherein I venture my head for your service. 


ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT 



AGAINST 


QUINBUS FLESTRIN, THE MAN-MOUNTAIN. 


ART, I. 


‘ Whereas, by a statute made in the reign of his imperial 
majesty Ca-lin Deffar Plune, it is enacted, that whosoever 
c, : i , ! make wa!-,;’ within the precincts of the royal palace, shall 

*Ths« art’rie3 . • designed to ridicule the articles of impeachment against 
0*ford i Ormond, and Bndugbroke, in 1715. 


V 


' » / 

GULLIVEK V E I. S 

• - * f 

be liable to the pains and penalties of high-treason; notwith* 
standing, the said Quinbus Flestrin, in open breach of the 
sai -i i v nder colour of extinguishing the fire kindled in the 
apartment of his majesty’s most dear imperial consort, did ma- 
liciously, traitorously, and devilishly, by discharge of his urine, 
put out the said fire kindled in the said apartment, lying and 
being within the precincts of the said royal palace, against 
the statute in that case provided, etc., against the duty, etc. 


art. n. 

* * That the said Quinbus Flestrin having brought the im- 
perial fleet of Blefuscu into the royal port, and being afterwards 
commanded by his imperial majesty to seize all other ships 
of the said empire of Blefuscu, and reduce that empire to a 
province, to be governed by a viceroy from hence, and to de- 
stroy. and put to death not only all the Big-endian exiles, but 
ikewise all the people of that empire who would nut imme- 
diately forsake the Big-endian heresy; he, the said Flestrin, 
like a false traitor against his most auspicious, serene, imperial 
Majesty, did petition to be excused from the said service, upon 
] retence of unwillingness to force the consciences, or destroy 
the liberties and lives of an innocent people.f * 


* There are many who believed that in consequenee of the numerous victories 
or tained by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, it would have been possible 
for the Allies to have marched to Paris, and compelled Louis XIV. to purchase peace 
by the sacrifice of a large portion of his dominion. Swift so far yields to popular 
p r rjudice as not to contest the possibility of such an exploit (here typified by the 
complete conquest of Blefuscu); he takes the higher ground of national justice, 
and insinuates that if the Allies had violated the integrity of France, they would 
re been guilty of the very crime which furnished a pretext for their inveterate 
tility to Louis XIV. The frivolous and vexatious character of some of the arti- 
c’ * of Gulliver’s impeachment is scarcely an exaggeration of the trivial nature of 
many of the charges brought against Queen Anne’s last cabinet by the Walpole 
administration. 

+ A lawyer thinks himself honest, if he does to best . ... 

statesman, if he promotes the interests of his cou • . y : but ; 1 .■ re inculcates 

a higher notion of right and wrong, and ob) ; c >• ■ 

Haickxworth. 


/ 


*. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


155 


ART. III. 

‘That whereas certain ambassadors arrived from the court 
of Blefiiscu, to sue for peace in his majesty’s court ; he, the 
said Flestrin, did, like a false traitor, aid, abet, comfort, and 
divert the said ambassadors, although he knew them to be 
servants of a prince who was lately an open enemy to his 
imperial majesty, and in an open war against his said 
majesty. 

ART. iv. 

‘ That the said Quinbus Flestrin, contrary to the duty of a 
faithful subject, is now preparing to make a voyage to the 
court and empire of Blefuscu, for which he has received only 
verbal license from his imperial majesty, and under colour of 
the said license, does falsely and traitorously intend to take 
the said voyage, and thereby to aid, comfort, and abet the 
emperor of Blefuscu, so lately an enemy, and in open war 
with his imperial majesty aforesaid.’ 

“ There are some other articles ; but these are the most 
important, of which I have read you an abstract. 

“In the several debates upon this impeachment, it must 
be confessed that his majesty gave many marks of his great 
lenity ; often urging the services you had done him, and 
endeavouring to extenuate your crimes. The treasurer and 
admiral insisted that you should be put to the most painful 
and ignominious death, by setting fire to your house at night; 
and the general was to attend with twenty thousand men, 
armed with poisoned arrows, to shoot you on the face and 
hands. Some of your servants were to have private orders 
to strew a poisonous juice on your shirts and sheets, which 
would n flesh, and die in the 

e general came into the same opinion , 
so that for a long Lime there was a majority against you; 


156 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


but his majesty resolving, if possible, to spare your life, at last 
brought off the chamberlain. 

“ Upon this incident, Reldresal, principal secretary for 
private affairs, who always approved himself your true friend, 
was commanded by the emperor to deliver his opinion, which 
he accordingly did ; and therein justified the good thoughts 
you have of him. He allowed your crimes were great, but 
that still there was room for mercy, the most commendable 
virtue in a prince, and for which his majesty was so justly 
celebrated. lie said, the friendship between you and him was 
so well known to the world, that perhaps the most honourable 
board might think him partial : however, in obedience to the 
command he had received, he would freely offer his sentiments. 
That if his majesty, in consideration of your services, and 
pursuant to his own merciful disposition, would please to 
spare your life, and only give orders to put out both of your 
eyes, he humbly conceived that, by this expedient, justice 
might in some measure be satisfied, and all the world would 
applaud the lenity of the emperor, as well as the fair and 
generous proceedings of those who have the honour to be his 
counsellors. That the loss of your eyes would be no im- 
pediment to your bodily strength, by which you might still 
be useful to his majesty: that blindness is an addition to 
courage, by concealing dangers from us : that the fear you 
had for your eyes, was the greatest difficulty in bringing 
over the enemy’s fleet ; and it would be sufficient for you to 
see by the eyes of the ministers, since the greatest princes do 
no more.* 

“ This proposal was received with the utmost disapprobation 

* The pretended merciful counsel of Reldresal, who proposed a commutation of 
punishment, which, however, was worse than death, appears to be a satire on those 
Whigs who pro) 
impeached for 

of high misdem flj Would ju&mjr the’ 

and sentenced o ci\ • death. 




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


157 


by the whole board. Belgolam, the admiral, could not preserve 
his temper ; but rising up in a fury, said he wondered now 
the secretary durst presume to give his opinion for preserving 
the life of a traitor : that the services you had performed 
were, by all true reasons of state, the great aggravation of 
your crimes ; that you, who was able to extinguish the fire by 
discharge of urine in her majesty’s apartment (which he 
mentioned with horror), might, at another time, raise an in- 
undation by the same means, to drown the whole palace ; ant 
the same strength which enabled you to bring over th« 
enemy’s fleet, might serve, upon the first discontent, to carry 
it back : that he had good reason to think you were a Big- 
endian in your heart; and, as treason begins in the heart 
before it appears in overt acts, so he accused you as a traitor 
on that account, and therefore insisted you should be put to 
death. 

“ The treasurer was of the same opinion : he showed to 
what straits his majesty’s revenue was reduced, by the charge 
of maintaining you, which would soon grow insupportable : 
that the secretary’s expedient of putting out your eyes, was 
so far from being a remedy against this evil, that it would 
probably increase it, as is manifested from the common 
practice of blinding some kind of fowls, after which they 
feed the faster and grow sooner fat ; that his sacred majesty 
and the council, who are your judges, were, in their own 
consciences, fully convinced of your guilt, which was a suffi- 
cient argument to condemn you to death without the formal 
proofs required by the strict letter of the law.* 

* There is something so odious in whatever is wrong, that even those whom it does 
not subject to punishment, endeavour to colour it with an appearance of right; but 
the attempt is always unsuccessful, and only betrays a consciousness of deformity 
by showing a desire to hide it. Thus the Lilliputian court pretended a right to dis- 
pense with the strict letter of the law to put Gulliver to death, though by the stric; 
letter of the law only he could be convicted of a crime ; the intention of the statute 
not being to suffer the palace rather to be burnt than so to be extinguished 
Ha cksworth. 


158 


gulliyer’s travels. 


But his imperial majesty, fully determined against capital 
punisment, was graciously pleased to say, that since the coun- 
cil thought the loss of your eyes too easy a censure, some 
other may be inflicted hereafter.* And your friend the secre- 
tary, humbly desiring to be heard again, in answer to what 
the treasurer had objected, concerning the great charge his 
majesty was at in maintaining you, said, that his excellency, 
who had the sole disposal of the emperor’s revenue, might 
easily provide against that evil, by gradually lessening your 
establishment; by which, for want of sufficient food, you will 
grow weak and faint, and lose your appetite, and consume in 
a few months; neither would the stench of your carcass be 
then so dangerous, when it should become more than half 
diminished ; and immediately upon your death, five or six 
.housand of his majesty’s subjects might, in ‘two or three days, 
cut your flesh from your bones, take it away by cartloads, and 
bury it in distant parts, to prevent infection, leaving the skel- 
eton as a monument of admiration to posterity. 

“ Thus by the great friendship of the secretary, the whole 

Tair was compromised. It was strictly enjoined, that the 
project of starving you by degrees should be kept a secret ; 
but the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the 
books ; none dissenting, except Bolgolam, the admiral, who, 
b ing a creature of the empress, was perpetually instigated by 
her majesty to insist upon your death, she having borne per- 
petual malice against you, on account of that infamous and 
illegal method you took to extinguish the fire in her apart- 
ment. 

“ In three days your friend the secretary will be directed to 
come to your house, and read before you the articles of 

* This appears to be directed against the partial pardon which was granted to 
Lord Bolingbroke. George I. could never be persuaded to restore him to his rights 
as a peer, though Bolingbroke bribed the Duchess of Kendal to use her powerful 
intercession, and actually induced her to place his memorial in the king’s 

hand. 


own 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


159 


mipeachment ; and then to signify the great lenity an i favour 
of his majesty and council, whereby you are only co, demn&i 
to the loss of your eyes, which his majesty does not question 
you will gratefully and humbly submit to ; and twenty of his 
majesty’s surgeons will attend, in order to see the operation 
well performed, by discharging very sharp-pointed arrows into 
the balls of your eyes, as you lie on the ground. 

“ I leave to your prudence what measures you will take ; 
and to avoid suspicion, I must immediately return in as pri- 
vate a manner as I came.” 

His lordship did so ; and I remained alone, under many 
doubts and perplexities of mind. 

It was a' custom introduced by this prince and his ministry 
(very different, as I have been assured, from the practice of 
former times), that after the court had decreed any cruel exe- 
cution, either to gratify the monarch’s resentment, or the- 
malice of a favourite, the emperor always made a speech to 
his whole council, expressing his great lenity and tenderness 
as qualities known and confessed by all the world. This 
speech was immediately published throughout the kingdom ;* 
nor did any thing terrify the people so much, as those encomi- 
ums on his majesty’s mercy ; because it was observed, that the 
more these praises were enlarged and insisted on, the more 
inhuman was the punishment, and the sufferer more innocent. 
Yet as to myself, I must confess, having never been designed 
for a courtier, either by my birth or education, I was so ill a 
judge of things, that could not discover the lenity ancf favour 
of this sentence, but conceived it (perhaps erroneously) rather 
to be rigorous than gentle. I sometimes thought of standing 
my trial ; for, although I could not deny the facts alleged in the 

* Sir Walter Scott supposes that a sarcasm is intended here against the royal pro- 
clamations issued after the rebellion of 1715, but Swift more probably alludes to the 
Icing’s speech at the opening of parliament, October 11th, 1722, wherein he informed 
both Houses of the conspiracy to restore the Pretender, in which Attert ury was 
involved. 


J GO 


gullivee’s travels. 


articles, yet I hoped they would admit of som«d extenua- 
te n. >ut having in my life perused many state trials, which I 
erved to terminate as the judges thought fit to direct, I 
durst not rely on so dangerous a decision, in so critical a junc- 
ture, and against such powerful enemies. Once, I was strongly 
bent upon resistance : for, while I had liberty, the whole strength 
of that empire could hardly subdue me, and I might easily 
with stones pelt the metropolis to pieces ; but I soon rejected 
that project with horror, by remembering the oath I had 
made to the emperor, the favours I received from him, and 
the high title of nardac he conferred upon me. Neither had 
I so soon learned the gratitude of courtiers, to persuade 
myself jthat his majesty’s present severities acquited me of all 
past obligations.* 

At last I fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I 
may incur some censure, and not unjustly; for I confess I owe 
the preserving of mine eyes, and consequently my liberty, to 
my own great rashness and want of experience ; because, if I 
had then known the nature of princes and ministers, which I 
have since observed in many other courts, and their methods 
of treating criminals less obnoxious than myself, I should, 
with great alacrity and readiness, have submitted to so easy a 
punishmentf But hurried on by the precipitancy of youth, 


'•'Gulliver’s defence of himself for escaping to Blefuscu is a covert apology for 
Bolingbroke’s flight to France in 1715; a circumstnce which was frequently quoted 
as decisive proof of his guilt, and censured as an act of imprudence by many who 
believed in his innocence. The Dean insinuates that it was like that of Gulliver, ren- 
dered necessary by the malice of the minsters of the day ; and it must be confessed 
that the mode in which the articles of impeachment were urged forward, gave too 
much reason 10 believe that Bolingbroke’s death was pre-determined by his 
accusers. 

t This bitter stroke of irony is directed against the acts of parliament by which 
Ormond, Bolingbroke, and the Bishop of Rochester, were attainted. Swift gave 
rather a perilous proof of his belief in the innocence of the Duke of Ormond, whm, 
after that nobleman’s attainder, the heralds from the Irish College of Arms went to 
remove his escutcheon from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Swift refused them admittance 
and persevered in keeping the duke’s coat of arms in its ancient place of honour. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


161 


and having his imperial majesty’s license to pay my attend- 
ance upon the emperor of Blefuscu, I took this opportunity, 
before the three days were elapsed, to send a letter to my 
friend the secretary, signifying my resolution of setting out 
that morning for Blefuscu, pursuant to the leave I had got ; 
and, without waiting for an answer, I went to that side of the 
island where our fleet lay. I seized a large man-of-war, tied a 
cable to the prow, and lifting up the anchors, I stripped 
myself, put my clothes (together with my coverlet, which I 
carried under my arm) into the vessel, and drawing it after 
me, between wading and swimming, arrived at the royal port 
of Blefuscu, where the people had long expected me ; they lent 
me two guides to direct me to the capital city, which is .of the 
same name. I held them in my hands till I came within two 
hundred yards of the gate, and desired them “to signify my 
arrival to one of the secretaries, and let him know I there 
waited his majesty’s command.” I had an answer in about 
an hour, “that his majesty, attended by the royal family, 
and great officers of the court, was coming out to receive me.” 
I advanced a hundred yards. The emperor and his train 
alighted from their horses, the empress and ladies from theii 
coaches, and I did not perceive they were in any fright or 
concern. I lay on the ground to kiss his majesty’s and the 
empress’s hands. I told his majesty, “ that I was come 
according to my promise, and with the license of the emperoi 
my master, to have the honour of seeing so mighty a mon- 
arch, and to offer him any service in my power, consistent 
with my duty to my own prince not mentioning a word of 
my disgrace, because I had hitherto no regular information of. 
it, and might suppose myself wholly ignorant of any such 
design ; neither could I reasonably conceive that the emperor 
would discover the secret, while I was out his power ; wherein, 
however, it soon appeared I was deceived. 

I shall not trouble the reader with the particular account 


162 


gullivee’s travels. 


of my reception at this court, which was suitable to the gen- 
erosity of so great a prince; nor of the difficulties I was in for 
want of a house and bed, being forced to lie on the ground, 
wrapped up in my coverlet.* 

* The author probably alludes to the severe hardships endured by many of the 
Jacobite exiles in France 


A VOYAGE TO L I L L I P C T . 


163 


CHAPTER VIII. 


rhe author, by a lucky accident, finds means to leave Blefuscu ; and, after some 
difficulties, returns safe to his native country. 


Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the 
north-east coast of the island, I observed, about half a league 
off in the sea, somewhat that looked like a boat overturned* 
I pulled off my shoes and stockings, and wading two or three 
hundred yards, I found the object to approach nearer by force 
of the tide; and then plainly saw it to be a real boat, which 
I supposed might by some tempest have been driven from a 
ship ; whereupon I returned immediately towards the cit; 
and desired his imperial majesty to lend me twenty of th 
tallest vessels he had left, after the loss of his fleet, and tbre 
thousand seamen, under the command of his vice admiral. 
This fleet sailed round, while I went back the shortest way t 
the coast, where I first discovered the boat. I found the tide 
had driven it still nearer. The seamen were all provided with 
cordage, which I had beforehand twisted to a sufficient 
strength. When the ships came up, I stripped myself, and 
waded till I came within a hundred yards of the boat, after 
which I was forced to swim till I got up to it. The seamen 
threw me the end of the cord, which I fastened to a hole in 
the forepart of the boat, and the other end to a man-of-war; 
but I found all my labour to little purpose for being out of 
my depth, I was not able to work. In this necessity I was 
forced to swim behind, and push the boat forward, as often as 


164 


GCLLIVEK'b TRAVELS. 


X could; ivith one of ray hands ; and the tide favouring me, 1 
advanced *o far that I could just holdup my chin and feel the 
ground. I rested two or three minutes, and then gave the 
boat another shove, and so on, till the sea was no higher than 
my arm-pits ; and now the most laborious part being over, I 
took out my other cables, which were stowed in one of the 
idiips, and fastened them first to the boat, and then to nine of 
die vessels which attended me ; the wind being favourable, 
he seamen towed, and I shoved, until we arrived within forty 
/ards of the shore, and waiting till the tide was out, I got 
dry to the boat, and by the assistance of two thousand men 
vith ropes and engines, I made a shift to turn it on its bot- 
tom, and found it was but little damaged. 

I shall not trouble the reader with the difficulties I was 
• nder, by the help of certain paddles, which cost me ten days 
making, to get my boat to the royal port of Blefuscu, where 
a mighty concourse of people appeared upon my arrival, full 
f wonder at the sight of so prodigious a vessel. I told the 
emperor “that my good fortune had thrown this boat in my 
ay, to carry me to some place whence I might return into 
my native country; and begged his majesty’s orders for get- 
ting materials to fit it up ; together with his license to 
depart which, after some kind expostulations, he was pleased 
to grant. 

1 did very mucli wonder, in all this time, not to have heard* 
of any express relating to me from our emperor to the court 
of Blefuscu. But I was afterwards given privately to under- 
stand, that his imperial majesty, never imagining I had the 
least notice of his designs, believed I was only gone to Ble- 
fnscu in performance of my promise, according to the license 
he had given me, which was well known at our court, 
and would return in a few days, v/hen the ceremony was 


** I did very much wonder not to have heard,’ etc. This sentence is ungram, 
matical ; it should have been, ‘ I did very much wonder, in all this time, at not 
h«vinv heard of my express,’ etc. — Sheridan. 


A VOYAGE TO ■ • l i F 0 T . 165 

ended. But he was at last in p a > long absence ; and 

after consulting with the treasu and the rest of that cabal* 
a person of quality was dispatched with h copy of the a u- 
cles against me. This envoy had instructions to represent to 
the monarch of Blefuscu “ the great lenity of his master, who 
was content to punish me no farther than with the loss of 
mine eyes ; that I had fled from justice ; and if I did not 
return in two hours, I should be deprived of my title of nar - 
dac , and declared a traitor.” The envoy farther added, “ that 
in order to maintain the peace and amity between both em- 
pires, his master expected that his brother of Blefuscu would 
give orders to have me sent back to Lilliput, bound hand and 
foot, to be punished as a traitor.”f 

The emperor of Blefuscu, having taken three days to con- 
sult, returned an answer consisting of many civilities and 
excuses. He said, “ that, as for sending me bound, his brother 
knew it was impossible ; that although I had deprived him of 
his fleet, yet he owed great obligations to me for many good 
offices I had done him in making peace. That, however, both 
their majesties would soon be made easy ; for I had found a 
prodigious vessel on the shore, able to carry me on the sea, 
which he had given orders to fit up, with my own assistance 
and direction : and he hoped, in a few weeks, both empires 
would be freed from so insupportable an incumbrance.” 

With this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput, and the 
monarch of Blefuscu related to me all tnat had passed ; offer- 
ing me at the same time (but under the strictest confidence) 
nis gracious protection, if I would continue in his service ; 
wherein, although I believed him sincere, yet I resolved never 
more to put any confidence in princes or ministers, where I 
could possibly avoid it ; and, therefore, with all due acknow- 

embassy from Lilliput is designed to sattme the frequent cemonstraj)^' 
it.Ide to the French court by the English ministers in consequence of the pteveotiaa 
granted to the Jacobites 


1 06 gullivee’s travels. 

X* 

ledgments for urable intentions, I humbly begged tc 

Id him, that “since fortune, whether good 
or evil* h;A thrown a vessel my way, I was resolved to ven- 
ture myself on the ocean, rather than be an occasion of dif- 
ference between two such mighty monarchs.” Neither did I 
fini the emperor at all displeased ; and * discovered, by a cer- 
1 tain accident, that he was very glad of my resolution, and so 
were most of his ministers.* 

These considerations moved me to hasten my departure 
somewhat sooner than I intended; to which the court, impa- 
padent to have me gone, very readily contributed. Five 
hundred workmen were employed to make two sails to my 
b( it, according to my directions, by quilting thirteen folds 
of their strongest linen together. I was at the pains of 
making ropes and cables, by twisting ten, twenty, or thirty, 
• 1 the thickest and strongest of theirs. A great stone that I 
happened to find, after a long search, by the sea-shore, .served 
n • for an anchor. I had the tallow of three hundred cows, 
foi greasing my boat, and other uses. I was at incredible 
pains in cutting down some of the largest timber trees for 
oars and masts, wherein I was, however, much assisted by his 
majesty’s ship-carpenters, who helped me in smoothing them, 
aft ;r I had done the rough work. 

* This irony is directed against the jealousy with which Bolingbroke, during his 
ex , was regarded by the French ministers. His restless spirit of intrigue ren* 
der 1 him scarcely less formidable at Versailles than he had been at St. James’s. 
During his exile, Bolingbroke entered the Pretender’s service, but soon quarrelled 
his master, and was formally attainted at the mock court of St. James’s. It 
war a singular fortune to be secretary to and attainted by both governments. Swift 
h nvariably eulogized Bolingbroke as a pure patriot; but he was far from de- 
■ v ng that character. “His life,” says a recent writer, “ was chiefly spent in re- 
■ ir ent, and though not highly exemplary of practical wisdom, he was looked up 
to with oracular veneration by contemporary wits and politicians. He was a fine 
sj ea xer and highly acccmpli-hcd Tran ; of grea f .nj decis’or' nf character: 

but unscrupulous, an ' lacked the integrity of principle and singleness of purpose 
which inspire confide; ce and lead to unquesUoned excellence. He was ambitious, 
envious of superiority, resentful, lax in morals, a partisan in politics, ant. an infidel 
in religion. 




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 


167 


In about a month, when all was prepared, I sent to receive 
his majesty’s commands, and to take my leave. The emperor 
and royal family came out of the palace ; I lay down on my 
face to kiss his hand, which he very graciously gave me ; so 
did the empress and young princes of the blood. His 
majesty presented me with fifty purses of two hundred spruys 
apiece, together with his picture at full length, which I put 
immediately into one of my gloves, to keep it f m being 
hurt. The ceremonies at my departure were too many to 
trouble the reader with at this time. 

I stored the boat with the carcasses of a hundred oxen and 
three hundred sheep, with bread and drink proportionable, 
and as much meat ready-dressed as four hundred cooks could 
provide. I took with me six cows and two bulls alive, with 
as many ewes and rams, intending to carry them into my 
own country, and propagate the breed ; and to feed them on 
board, I had a good bundle of hay, and a bag of corn. I 
would gladly have taken a dozen of the natives, but this was 
a thing the emperor would by no means permit; and besides 
a diligent search into my pockets, his majesty engaged my 
honour “ not to carry away any of his subjects, although with 
their own consent and desire.” 

Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able, 1 
set sail, on the twenty-fourth day of September 1*701, at six ir 
the morning; and when I had gone about four leagues to the 
northward, the wind being at south-east, at six in the evening, i 
descried a small island, about half a league to the north-west. 
I advanced forward, and cast anchor on the lee side of the 
island, which seemed to be uninhabited. I then took some 
refreshment, and went to my rest. I slept well, and as I con- 
jecture at least six hours, for I found the day broke in two 
ho rs after I awaked. It was a clear night. I ate my break- 
fast before the sun was up; and heaving anch ind 

being favourable, I steered the same course that I had done 


1.68 


gullivek’s travels. 


the day before, wherein I was directed by my pocket-compass. 
My intention was to reach, if possible, one of those islands 
which I had. reason to believe lay to the north-east of Van 
Piemen's Land. I discovered nothing all that day; but 
upon the next, about three in the afternoon, when I had, by 
my computation, made twenty-four leagues from Blefuscu, I 
descried a sail steering to the south-east ; my course was due 
east. I hailed her but could get no answer ; yet I found I 
gained upon her, for the wind slackened. I made all the sail 
I could, and in half an hour she spied me, then hung out her 
ancient, and discharged a gun. It is not easy to express the 
joy I was in, upon the unexpected hope of once more seeing 
my beloved country, and the dear pledges I left in it. The 
ship slackened her sails, and I came up with her between 
five and six in the evening, September 26 ; but my heart 
leaped within me to see her English colours. I put my cows 
and sheep into my coat-pockets, and got on board with all 
my little cargo of provisions. The vessel was an English 
merchantman, returning from Japan by the North and South 
Seas ; the captain, Mr. John Biddel of Deptford, a very civil 
man and an excellent sailor. We were now in the latitude 
of 30 degrees south ; there were about fifty men in the ship ; 
and here I met an old comrade of mine, one Peter Williams, 
who gave me a good character to the captain. This gentle- 
man treated me with kindness, and* desired I would let him 
know what place I came from last, and whither I was bound ; 
which I did in a few words, but he thought I was raving, and 
that the dangers I had underwent* had disturbed my head ; 
whereupon I took my black cattle and sheep out of my 
pocket, which, after great astonishment, clearly convinced* 
him of my veracity. I then showed him the gold given me 
by the em ol BiofW.u, U*g^ti;c? with j, 

* “I had ui ■ 

or “ I underwe.au” 

tor 


/ 


A VOYAGE TO L1LLIPUT. 


169 


ture at full length, and some other rarities of that country. 
I gave him two purses of two hundred sprugs each, and pro- 
mised, when we arrived in England, to make him a present 

a cow, and a sheep big with young. 

I shall not trouble the reader with a particular account of 
this voyage, which was very prosperous for the most part. 
We arrived in the Downs on the 13th of April 1702. I had 
only one misfortune, that the rats on board carried away one 
of my sheep : I found her bones in a hole, picked clean from 
the flesh. The rest of my cattle I got safe ashore, and set 
them a-grazing on a bowling-green at Greenwich, where the 
fineness of the grass made them feed very heartily, though I 
had always feared the contrary : neither could I possibly 
ha^e preserved them in so long a voyage, if the captain had 
not allowed me some of his best biscuit, which, rubbed to 
powder, and mingled with water, was their constant food. 
The short time I continued in England, I made a considerable 
profit by showing my cattle to many persons of quality and 
others ; and before I began my second voyage I sold them 
for six hundred pounds. Since my last return I find the breed 
is considerably increased, especially the sheep, which I hope 
will prove much to the advantage of the woollen manufacture, 
by the fineness of the fleeces.* I stayed but two months with 
my wife and family, for my insatiable desire of seeing foreign 
countries would suffer iW to continue no longer. I left 
fifteen hundred pounds with my wife, and fixed her in a good 

* This is a passing sarcasm on the numerous acts of parliament for encouraging 
the woollen manufactures, and the various schemes proposed in Swift’s time for 
improving the growth and fineness of wool. There is probably no other subject on 
which greater blunders have been made in commercial legislation than the English 
woollen trade, nor any which more clearly shows the futility of protecting duties 
and direct encouragement from parliament. Swift provoked the indignation of 
the party in power, by protesting earnestly against the commercial jealousy which 
annihilated the woollen manufactures of Ireland, under pretence of their interfer- 
ing with the staple manufacture of England : but wool was the favou rite hobby of 
his day, and projects for extending the trade formed no small part of the bubbles 
of 1720. 


IT vy GULLIVER 8 TRAVELS. 

house at RedrifF. My remaining stock I carried with me, 
part in money and part in goods, in hopes to improve my 
fortunes. My eldest uncle John had left me an estate in land 
near Epping of about thirty pounds a year, and I had a long 
lease of the Black Bull in Fetter-lane, which yielded me a s 
much more ; so that I was not in any danger of leaving my 
family upon the parish. My son Johnny, named so after his 
uncle, was at the grammar-school, and a towardly child. My 
daughter Betty (who is now well married, and has children) 
was then at her needlework. I took leave of my wife and 
boy and girl, with tears on both sides, and went on board the 
Adventure, a merchant ship of three hundred tons, bound for 
Surat, Captain John Nicholas, of Liverpool, commander. 
But my account of this voyage mu»t be referred to the 
Second Part of my Travels. 


I’O QDIXBUS FLESTRIN, THE MAHOUKTAIK 


51n 

13 Y TITTY TIT, ESQ. 

POET- LACREATB TO HIS MAJESTT OP LILUfUT. 


Translated, into English. 


In amaze, 

Lost, I gaze l 
Can our eyes 
Reach thy size ? 

May my lays 
owell with praise! 
Worthy thee ! 

W orthy me l 
Muse inspire 
All thy fire. 

Bards of old 
Of him told, 

"When they said 
Atlas’ head 
Propped the skies : 

See, and believe your eyes. 

See him stride 
Valleys wide : 

Over woods. 

Over floods, 

When he treads, 
Mountains’ heads 


ODE TO QUINBU8 FLESTRIN 


Groan and shake ; 
Armies quake, 

Lest his sourn 

Overturn 

Man and steed : 

Troops take heed. 

Left and right, 

Speed your flight 
Lest an host 
Beneath his foot be lost 

Turn’d aside 
From his hide, 

Safe from wound, 

Darts rebound ; 

F*ooi hi a nose 
Clouds he lAowi ; 

When he speaks 
• Thunder breaks ! 

When he eats, 

Famine threats; 

Wi en he driLks 
Neptune shrinks j 
Nigh thy ear 
In mid air 
On thy hand 
Let me stand, 

So shall I, 

Lofty poet, touch the sky. 



KT II. 


A VOYAGE TO B R 0 B D I N G N A G 




* 




































t 








•» 













































. 












A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG* 



* CHAPTER I. 

A great storm descried ; the long boat sent to fetch water, the author goes with it 
to discover the country — He is left on shore, is seized by one of the natives aud 
carried to a farmer’s house. — His reception, with several accidents that happened 
there — A description of the inhabitants. 


An active and restless life having been assigned me bv nature 
and fortune, in two months after my return I again left my native 
country, and took shipping in the Downs, or the 20th day of 
June, 1702, in the Adventure, Captain John Nicholas, a Cor- 
nishman, commander, bound for Surat. We had a very 
prosperous gale, till we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, 


* The existence of giants as a distinct race, superior in strength and stature to 
the rest of mankind, was long maintained as an article of faith, not merely by the 
ignorant and vulgar, but by men of learning. According to the Rabbins, Adam was 
not only the first but the largest of mankind : they affirm that when he was created, 
his stature was so great that his head reached the heavens. This so annoyed the 
angels that they remonstrated with the Creator, upon which God placed his hand on 
Adam’ head, and he instantly shrank into one thousand oubits. When the Garden 
of Eden was disjoined from the rest of the world, after the Fall, by the interposition 
of the ocean, they assert that Adam waded through the depths of his new habitation, 
and that Eve accompanied him without fear of drowning ; which she might well do> 
if, as the Mohammedan doctors tell us, when her head lay on a hill near Mecca, 
her knees rested on two others in the plain, more than two bow shots asunder. 

Not only Jewish but Christian writers have maintained that a gigantic antedi- 
luvian race was produced by the intercourse between “the sons of God” and “the 
daughters of men.” (Gen. vi. 5.) And they aver, that these giants were destroyed 
by the onive r al del lie, > •it 1 T> : ay verakn renders Job nvi*5: “Belnld 


G U L L I V E li ’ 8 'fKAVELE. 

„ ieiv % e landed for fresh water; : ut discovering a lake, we 
shipped our goods, and wintered there; for the captain 
. ling sick of an ague, we could not leave the Cape till the 
• d of March. We then set sail, and had i good voyage till 


giants groan under the w&W that dwell with them. Hell is naked 

he 'ore them, and there is no cover Tor perdition.” To this sublime version the fol- 
lowing comment is added ; <k CHant&jrere not able to wade in Noah s flood, but were 

0 -owi V ith the rest.” The iiabbins however make an exception in favour of Og, 
\i ig c . ii; compared to whom, according to their legends, all other giants were 

are ! r ; an‘\ The waters of the deluge, they say, only reached to his knees, 
aud he ; a!i»e at the time of Exodus, when God destroyed him by the hand of 
oses. .-or Og, perceiving the advance of the Israelites, whose army covered a 
.ace of nine miles, cut a stone out of a mountain, so wide, that it would have 
ivered the whole army, and he put it on his head that he might throw it upon them, 
ut God sent a lapwing which pecked a whole through the stone, so that it slipped 
m* Og’s head, and hung around his neck like a necklace. The weight bore him 
to the ground on his face, and in this condition he was attacked by Moses. Moses 
as ten cubits in stature, and he took a spear ten cubits long, and threw it ten 
ubits high, and yet it only reached Og’s heels. Moses however succeeded in slay- 

1 ig bim ; and when he was dead, his body lay for a whole year, reaching as far as 
he river Nile in Egypt. 

The feats of the giants who warred against the gods are sufficiently known, and 
hey may be passed over as purely mythological. But grave historians have re- 
corded that Scandinavia was originally inhabited by giants, one of whom, according 
o Olaus Magnus, was an eminent poet ; and, unlike the rest of the tuneful brother- 
' hood, wrote against indulgence in love and wine. Britain, if we may trust Grafton’s 
Chronicle, was similarly tenanted : “ Brute with his companie after his first landing 
n the island of Totnesse, searched and travailed throughout all the land, and found 
lie same to be marvellous ryche and plentifull of wood and pasture, and garnished 
with most goodly and pleasant ryvers and stremes; and as he passed he was 
encountered in sundry places with a great number of mightie and strong gyants, 
which at that did inhabit the same.” 

A belief in the existence of whole nations of giants is only now beginning to fade 
away before the gradual progress of geographical discovery. The ancients supposed 
that giants possessed the interior of Africa. In the time of Purchas (a i>. 1614), 
the Indians of Virginia were supposed to belong to the race of Anak, for he gives 
the following account of a Virginian tribe, on the authority of Alexander Whita- 
ker, an early traveller in these regions. “ The Sasquesahanockes are a giantly 
people, strange in proportion, behavior, and attire, their voice sounding from them 
as out of a cave, their attire of bears’ skins hanged with bears’ paws, the head of a 
wolf, and such like jewels ; and (if any would have a spoone to eat with the divele) 
their tobacco-pipes were three quarters of a yard long, carved at the great end 
with a bird, beare, or other device, sufficient to beat out the braines of a horse, (and 
how many asses’ braines are beat out, or rather men’s braines smoked out and asses* 
braines haled in, by our lesse pipes at home?) the rest of their furniture was suitable. 
The calf of one of their legges was measured three-quarters of a yard about, the 


A VOYAGE TO BROjBDINGNAG 


17 


we passed the Straits of Madagascar ; but having got north- 
ward of that island, and to about five degrees south latitude 
the winds, which in those seas are observed to blow a constan 
equal gale between the north and west, from the beginning 
of December to the beginning of May, on the 19th of April 
began to blow with much greater violence, and more westerly 
than usual, continuing so for twenty days together; during 
which time, we were driven a little to the east of the Molucca 
Islands, about three degrees northward of the line, as oui 
captain found by an observation he took on the 2d of May, 
at which time the wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm ; 
whereat I was not a little rejoiced. But he being a man well 
experienced in navigation of those seas, bid us all prepare 
against a storm, which accordingly happened on the day fol- 
lowing ; for the southern wind, called the southern moonshine, 
b^gan to set in. 

Finding it was likely to overblow,* we took in our sprit- 

rest of his limbs proportionable.” The exaggerated accounts of the Patagonians, 
published by Magellan and Le Maire, had not been refuted in Swift’s time ; so late 
as 1764, Commodore Byron declared that their stature filled him with astonishment. 
Hence Brobdingnag, considered merely as a fiction, did not seem so extravagant 
in the early part of the eighteenth as it does in the nineteenth century. 

Lucian in his True History, and Bishop Godwin in his whimsical account of Do- 
mingo Gonsales’ journey to the moon, have introduced gigantic races into their 
fictions. It is very probable that Swift took his first hint of the Brobdingnaggians 
from the latter; for, like the bishop, he associates mildness and gentleness with 
enormous stature. “Many of the lunarians,” says the author of the World in the 
Moon, “ live wonderful long, even beyond belief; affirming to me that some survived 
thirty thousand moons, which is above a thousand years; and thi? is generally 
noted, that the taller people are of stature, the more excellent are their endowments 
of mind, and the longer time they live ; for their stature is very different, great 
numbers not much exceeding ours, who seldom live above a thousand moons, which 
is fourscore of our years. These they account base unworthy creatures, but one 
degree above brute beasts, and employ them in mean and servile offices, calling them 
bastards, counterfeits, or changelings. Those whom they account true natural 
luners, or moon-men, exceed ours generally thirty times, both in quantity of body 
and length of life proportionable to the quality of the day in both worlds : theirs 
containing almost thirty of our days.” 

* This is a parody upon the account of storms and naval manoeuvres frequent in 
old voyages, and is merely an assemblage of sea terms put together at random. 

Q* 


178 


Gulliver’s travels. 


sail, and stood by to hand the fore-sail ; hut, mating foul 
weather, we looked that the guns were all fast and handed 
the mizen. The ship lay very broad off, so we thought it 
better spooning before the sea than trying or hulling. We 
reefed the fore-sail and set him, and hauled aft the foresheet ; 
the helm was hard-a leather. The ship wore bravely. We 
belayed the fore down-haul ; but the sail was split, and we 
hauled down the yard, and got the sail into the ship, and 
unbound all things clear of it. It was a very fierce storm : 
the sea broke strange and dangerous. We hauled off upon 
the laniard of the whip-staff, and helped the man at the helm. 
We could not get down our topmast, but let all stand, because 
she scudded before the sea very well, and we knew that the 
topmast being aloft, the ship was the wholesomer and made 
better way through the sea, seeing we had sea-room. When 
the storm was over, we set fore-sail and main sail, and brought 
he ship to. Then we set the mizen, main-top-sail, and the 
fore-top-sail. Our course was north-east, and the wind was 
at south-west. We got the starboard tacks aboard, we cast 
-off our weather braces and lifts; we set in the lee-braces, and 
i auled forward by the weather-bowlings, and hauled them 
t light, and belayed them, and hauled over the mizen tack to 
\ indward, and kept her full and by as near as she would lie. 
>uring this storm, which was followed by a strong wind west- 
ern th- west, we were carried, by my computation, about five 
hundred leagues to the east, so that the oldest sailor on board 
could not tell in what part of the world we were. Our pro- 
visions held out well, our ship was staunch, and our crew all 
in good health ; but we lay in the utmost distress for water. 
W e thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than 
turn more northerly, which might have brought us to the 
north-west of Great Tartary, and into the Frozen Sea. 

On the 16th day of June 1703, a boy on the topmast dis- 
covered land. On the 17th we came 'in full view of a great 


A VOYAGE TO BKOBDINGNAQ, .) 

island, or continent (for we knew not whether) ; on the south, 
side whereof was a small neck of land jutting out into the 
sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship of above one bin ' red 
tons. We cast anchor within a league of this creek, and our 
captain sent a dozen of his men well armed in the long boat, 
with vessels for water, if any could *be found. I desired his 
leave to go with them, that I might see the coi ' v, * nd 
make what discoveries I could. When we came to '■> .we 
saw no river, or spring, nor any sign of inhabitants. Our 
men therefore wandered on the shore to find out some fresh 
water near the sea, and I walked alone about a mile on the 
other side, where I observed the country all barren and 
rocky. I now began to be weary, and seeing nothing lo 
entertain my curiosity, I returned gently down toward the 
creek ; and the sea being full in my view, I saw our men 
already got into the boat, and rowing for life to the ship. I was 
going to holla after them, although it had been to little pur- 
pose, when I observed a huge creature walking after them 
in the sea, as fast as he could ; he waded not much deeper 
than his knees, and took prodigious strides : but our men had 
the start of him half a league, and the sea thereabouts being 
full of sharp pointed rocks, the monster was not able to over- 
take the boat. This I was afterwards told, for I durst not 
stay to see the issue of the adventure, but ran as fast as I 
could the way I first went and then climbed up a steep hill 
which gave me some prospect of the country. I found it 
fully cultivated ; but that which surprised me was the length 
of the grass, which, in those grounds seemed to be kept for 
lia;y, was about twenty feet high. 

I fell into a high road, for so I took it to be, though it ser- 
ved to the inhabitants only as a footpath through a field of 
barley. Here I walked on for some time, but could see little 
on either side, it being now near harvest, and the corn rising 
at least forty feet. I was an hour walking to the end of this 


180 gulliver’b travels. 

field, whi'.-'i !• fei ?ed in with a. hedge at least a hundred 
and twenty ' , and the trees so lofty that I could make 

no oonmutatioip of their altitude. There was a stile to pass 
from this rich) into the next. It had four steps and a stone to 
cross over lien you come to the uppermost. It was impos- 
sible f r me to climb this stile, because every step was six 
et h and the upper stone about twenty. I was endea- 
\ on t g to find some gap in the hedge, when I discovered one 
of the inhabitants in the next field, advancing towards the 
stile, of the same size with him I saw in the sea pursuing our 
oat. He appeared as tall as an ordinary spire steeple, and 
look about ten yards at every stride, as near as I could guess- 
was struck with the utmost fear and astonishment, and ran 
o hide myself in the corn, whence I saw him at the top of 
he stile looking back into the next field on the right hand, 
ind heard him call in a voice many degrees louder than a 
peaking Trumpet; but the noise was so high in the air, 
hat at first I certainly thought it was thunder. Whereupon 
seven monsters, like himself, came towards him, with reaping 
nooks in their hands, each hook about the largeness of six 
.scythes. These people were not so well clad as the first, 
whose servants or laborers they seemed to 'be ; for, upon some 
words he spoke, they went to reap the corn in the field where 
I lay. I kept from them at as great a distance as I could, but 
was forced to move with extreme difficulty, for the stalks of 
corn were sometimes not a foot distant, so that I could hardly 
squeeze my body betwixt them. However, I made a shift to 
go forward till I came to a part of the field where the corn 
had been laid by rain and wind. Here it was impossible for 
me to advance a step ; for the stalks were so interwoven, that 
I could not creep through, and the beards of the fallen ears 
so strong and pointed, that they pierced through my clothes 
into my flesh. At the same time I heard the reapers not 
above a hundred yards behind me. Being quite dispirited 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGKAG. 181 


*ith toil, and wholly overcome with grief and despair, I lay 
down between two ridges, and heartily wished I might there 
end my days. I bemoaned my desolate widow and fatherless 
children. I lamented my own folly and wilfulness, in 
attempting a second voyage, against the advice of all my 
friends and relations. In this terrible agitation of mind, I 
could not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose inhabitants 
looked upon me as the greatest prodigy that ever appeared in 
the world ; where I was able to draw an imperial fleet in 
my hand, and perform those other actions, which will 
recorded forever in the chronicles of that empire, while p< 
terity shall hardly believe them, although attested by million 
I reflected what a mortification it must prove to me to appe 
as inconsiderable in this nation, as one single Lilliputian wou 
be among us. But this I conceived to be the least of ir 
misfortunes ; for, as human creatures are observed to be mo: 
savage and cruel in proportion to their bulk, what could 
expect but to be a morsel in the mouth of the first amon 
these enormous barbarians that should happen to seize me 1 
Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they tell r 
that nothing is great or little otherwise than by eomparisoi 
It might have pleased fortune, to have let the Lilliputian 
find some nation where the people were as diminutive will 
respect to them, as they were to me. And who knows bu 
that even this prodigious race of mortals might be equalh 
overmatched in some distant part of the world, whereof we 
have yet no discovery ?* 

Scared and confounded as I wals, I could not forbear going 
on with these reflections, when one of the reapers approaching 
within ten yards of the ridge where I lay, made me apprehend 

* The satire in the account of the Voyage to Lilliput is for the most part personal, 
but in the account of Brobdingnag the satire is general, and directed against insti. 
tutions rather than individuals. There are, however, a few sarcastic hits in the 
account given of the court of Brobdingnag, which bore hard on the statesmen of th« 
day. — Percy, Bishop of Dromore, MS* 


182 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


that with the next step I should be squashed to death undet 
his foot, or cut in two with his reaping hook. And therefore, 
when he was again about to move, I screamed as loud as fear 
could make me ; whereupon the huge creature trod shorty 
and looking round about under him for some time, at last 
espied me as I lay on the ground. He considered awhile, 
with the caution of one who endeavours to lay hold on a 
small dangerous animal in such a manner that it shall not be 
able either to scratch or bite him, as I myself have sometimes 
done with a weasel in England. At length he ventured to 
take me behind, by the middle, between his fore finger and 
thumb, and brought me within three yards of his eyes, that 
he might behold my shape more perfectly. I guessed his 
meaning, and my good fortune gave me so much presence of 
mind, that I resolved not to struggle in the least as he held 
me in the air above sixty feet from the ground, although he 
grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should slip through 
his fingers. All I ventured was to raise mine eyes towards 
the sun, and place my hands together in a supplicating 
posture, and to speak some words in an humble melancholy 
tone, suitable to the condition I then was in ; for I apprehended 
every moment that he would dash me against the ground, as 
we usually do any little hateful animal which we have a mind 
to destroy. But my good star would have it that he appeared 
pleased with my voice and gestures, and began to look upon 
me as a curiosity, much wondering to hear me pronounce 
articulate words, although he could not understand them. In 
the mean time I was not able to forbear groaning and 
shedding tears, and turning my head towards my sides; 
letting him know, as well as I could, how cruelly I was hurt 
by the pressure of his thumb and finger. He seemed to 
apprehend my meaning ; for, lifting up the lappet of his coat, 
he put me gently into it, and immediately ran along with me 

% 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG. 1S3 

to his master, who was a substantial farmer, and the same 
person I had first seen in the field. 

The farmer having (as I supposed by their talk) received 
such an account of me as his servant could give him, took a 
piece of a small straw, about the size of a walking-staff, and 
therewith lifted up the lappets of my coat ; which, it seems, 
he thought to be some kind of covering that nature had given 
me. He blew my hair aside to take a better view, of my 
face. He called his hinds about him, and asked th&n, as 1 
afterwards learned, “ Whether they had ever seen in the fields 
any little creature that resembled me ?” he then plrt^fed me 
softly on the ground on all fours, but I immediately got up, 
and walked slowly backward and forward, to let those people 
see I had no intent to run away. They all sat down in a 
circle about me, the better to observe my motions. I pulled 
off my hat, and made a low bow before the farmer. I fell on 
my knees, and lifted up my hands and eyes, and spoke several 
words as loud as I could ; I took a purse of gold out of my 
pocket, and humbly presented it to him. He received it on 
the palm of his hand, and then applied it close to his eye to 
see what it was, and afterwards turned it several times with 
the point of a pin (which he took out of his sleeve), but could 
make nothing of it. Whereupon I made a sign that he 
should place his hand on the ground. I then took the purse, 
and opening it poured all the gold into his palm. There 
were six Spanish pieces of four pistoles each, besides twenty 
or thirty smaller coins. I saw him wet the tip of his little 
finger upon his tongue, and take up one of my largest pieces, 
and then another ; but he seemed to be wholly ignorant what 
they were. He made me a sign to put them again into my 
purse, and the purse again into my pocket, which, after offer- 
ing it to him several times, I thought it best to do. 

The farmer, by this time, was convinced that I must be a 
rational creature. He spoke often to me ; but the sound of 

* 


184 


GUL LITER’S TRAVELS. 


Lis i v>e pierced my ears like that of a water-mill, yet his 
words were articulate enough. I answered as loud as 1 could 
in several languages, and he often laid his ear within two 
yards of me ; but all in vain, for we were wholly unintelligible 
to each other. He then sent his servants to their work, and 
taking his handkerchief out of his pocket, he doubled and 
spread it on his left hand, which he placed flat on the ground 
with the palm upward, making me a sign to step into it, as I 
could easily do, for it was not above a foot in thickness. I 
thought it my part to obey, and, for fear of falling, laid 
myseif at full length upon the handkerchief, with the re- 
mainder of which he lapped me up to the head for further 
security^, and in this manner carried me home to his house. 
There he called his wife, and showed me to her ; but she 
screamed and ran back, as women in England do at the sight 
of a toad or a spider. However, when she had awhile seen 
my behaviour, and how well 1 observed the signs her husband 
made, she was soon reconciled and by degrees grew extremely 
tender to me. 

Tt was about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in 
dinner. It was only one substantial dish of meat (tit for the 
plain condition of a husbandman), in a dish of about four-ancl- 
twentv feet diameter. The company were, the farmer and his 
wife, three children, and an old grandmother. When they 
w T ere sat down, the farmer placed me at some distance from 
him on the table, which was thirty feet high from the floor. 
I was in a terrible fright, and kept as far as I could from the 
edge, for fear of falling. The wife minced a bit of meat, then 
crumbled some bread on a trencher, and placed it before me. 
I made her a low bow, took out my knife and fork, and fell to 
eat, which gave them exceeding delight. The mistress sent 
her maid for a small dram V ' ; . 

and filled it with drink; I t up . -ifii- 

culty in both hands, and in drank Ui 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 

her ladyship’s health, expressing the words is loud mu vcoui 
in English, which made the company laugh so heartily; that t 
was almost deafened with the noise. This liquor tasted like 
a small cider, and was not unpleasant. The die master 
made me a sign to come to his trencher side; but as ; walked 
on the table, being at great surprise all the time, as the indul- 
gent reader will easily conceive and excuse, I happened to 
stumble against a crust, and fell flat on my face, but received 
no hurt. I got up immediately, and observing the good 
people to be in much concern, I took my hat (which I held 
under my arm out of good manners), aifd waving it over my 
head, gave three huzzas, to show I had got no mischief bv 
the fall. But advancing forwards towards my master (as I 
shaU henceforth call him), his youngest son, who sat next to 
him, an arch boy of about ten years old, took me up by the 
legs/ and held me so high in the air that I trembled every 
limb ; but his father snatched me from him, and at the same 
time gave him such,a box on the left ear, as would have felled 
an European troop of horse to the earth, ordering him to be 
taken from the table. But being afraid the boy might owe 
me a spite, and well remembering how miscehivous all 
Children among us naturally are to sparrows, rabbits, young 
kittens, and puppy dogs, I fell on my knees, and pointing to 
the boy, made my master to understand as well as I could, 
that I desired his son might be pardoned. The father com- 
plied, and the lad took his seat again, whereupon I went to 
him, and kissed his hand, which my master took, and made 
him stroke me gently with it. 

In the midst of dinner, my mistress’s favourite cat leaped 
into her lap. I heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen 
stocking-weavers at work ; and turning my head, I found it 
proceeded from the purring of that animal, who seemed to oe 
three times larger than an ox, as I computed by the view of 
her head, and one of her paws, while her mistress was feeding 


and stroking her. The fierceness of this creature’s countenance 
altogethe r discon*. osed me ; though I stood at the farther end 
of the table' abo fifty feet off, and though my mistress held 
her fast, for fear she might give a spring, and seize me in her 
talons. But it happened there was no danger, for the cat 
took not the least notice of me, when my master placed me 
within three yards of her. And as I have been always told, 
and found true by experience in my travels, that flying or dis- 
covering fear before a fierce animal, is a certain way to make 
it pursue or attack you, so I resolved, in this dangerous junc- 
ture, to show no manner of concern. I walked with intrepid- 
ity five or six times before the very head of the cat, and came 
within half a yard of her ; whereupon she drew herself back, 
as if she were more afraid of me. I had less apprehension 
concerning the dogs, whereof three or four came into the 
room, as it is usual in farmer’s houses ; one of which Ivas a 
mastiff, equal in bulk to four elephants, and a greyhound 
somewhat taller than the mastiff, but not so large; 

When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a 
child of a year old in her arms, who immediately spied me, and. 
began a squall that you might have heard from London 
Bridge to Chelsea, after the usual oratory of infants, to get me 
for a plaything. The mother, out of pure indulgence, took 
me up, and put me towards the child, who presently seized 
me by the middle, and got my head into his mouth, where I 
roared so loud that the urchin was frightened, and let me 
drop, and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the 
mother had not held her apron under me. The nurse, to 
quiet her babe, made use of a rattle, which was a kind of hol- 
low vessel filled with great stones, and fastened by a cable to 
the child’s waist; but all in vain ; so that she was forced to 
apply the last remedy by giviug it suck. I must confess no 
object ever disgusted me so much as the sight of her mon 
strous breast, which I cannot tell what to compare with, so as 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDTNGNAG, 


1ST 


to give the curious reader an ideaof its bulk, shap.\ and colour. 
It stood prominent six feet, and could not be less than sixteen 
in circumference. The nipple was about half the bigm - of 
my bead, and the hue both of that and the dug, so varied 
with spots, pimples, and freckles, that nothing could appear 
more nauseous : for I had a near sight of her, she sitting 
-down, the more conveniently to give suck, and I standing on 
the table. This made me reflect upon the fair skins of our 
English ladies, who appear so beautiful to us, only because 
they are of our own size, and their defects not to be seen but 
through a magnifying glass; where we find by experiment, 
that the smoothest and whitest skins look rough, and coarse, 
and ill coloured. 

I remember, when I was at Lilliput, the complexions of 
those' diminutive people appeared to me the fairest in the 
world ?*and talking upon the subject with a person of learning 
'"there, who was an intimate friend of mine, he said that my face 
appeared much fairer and smoother when he looked on* me 
from the ground, than it did upon a nearer view, when I took 
him up in my hand and brought him close, which he confessed 
was at first a very shocking sight. He said “ he could discover 
great holes in my skin ; that the stumps of my beard were 
ten times stronger than the bristles of a boar, and my com- 
plexion made up of several colours, altogether disagreeable 
although I must beg leave to say for myself, that I am as fair 
as most of my sex and country, and very little sunburnt by 
all my travels. On the other side, discoursing of the ladies 
in the emperor’s court, he used to tell me, “ one had freckles, 
another too wide a mouth, a third too large a nose nothing 
of which I was able to distinguish. I confess this reflection 
was obvious enough ; which, however, I could not forbear, 
lest the reader might think those vast creatures were actually 
deformed : for I must do them the justice to say, they are a 
comely race of people ; and particularly the features of my 


i ss Gulliver’s travels. 

master’s countenance, although he were but a farmer, when 1 
beheld him from the height of sixty feet, appeared very well 

proportioned. 

When dinner was done my master went out to his labour- 
ers, and, as I could discover by his voice and gesture, gave 
his wife strict charge to take care of me. I was very much 
tired and disposed to sleep, which my mistress perceiving, she 
put me on her own bed, and covered me with a clean white 
handkerchief, but larger and coarser than the mainsail of a 
man-of-war. 

I slept about two hours, and dreamt I was at home -with 
my wife and children, which aggravated my sorrows when I 
awaked,* and found myself alone, in a vast room, between two 
and three hundred ieet wide, and about two hundred high, 
lying in a bed twenty yards wide. My mistress was gone about 
her household affairs, and had locked me in. The bed was 
eight yards from the floor. Some natural necessities required 
me to get down. I durst not presume to call ; and if I had, 
it would have been in vain, with such a voice as mine, at so 
great a distance as from the room where I lay to the kitchen 
where the family kept. While I was under these circum- 
stances, two rats crept up the curtains and ran smelling 
backwards and forwards on the bed. One of them came up 
almost to my face, whereupon I rose in a fright, and drew 
out my hanger to defend myself. These horrible animals had 
the boldness to attack me on botfr sides, and one of them held 
his fore-foot at my collar ; but I had the good fortune to rip 
up his belly before he could do me any mischief. He fell 
down at my feet ; an I he other seeing the fate of his com- 
rade, made his escape, but not without one good wound on 
the back, which I gave him as he fled, and made the blood 
run trickling from him. After this exploit, I walked to and 

* This ought to have been “ awoke,” the preterit of the verb neuter, not “awaked,” 
the preterit of the verb active. — Sheridan . 




AO. 


189 


A VOYAGF TO B h O B D I N G 

fro on the bed, to recover breath and loss of iri Fhese 
creatures were about the size of a large masti finitely 

more nimble and fierce; so that if I had tab oil ; : 
before I went to sleep, I must have infallibly been torn k. 
pieces and devoured. I measured the tail of the dead ra 
and found it to be two yards long, wanting an inch ; but 
went against my stomach to draw the carcass off the bee 
where it lay still bleeling. I observed it had yet some lift 
but with a strong slash across the neck, I thoroughly dis 
spatched it. 

Soon after, my mistress came into the room, who seeing 
me all bloody, ran and took me up in her hand. I pointed 
to the dead rat, smiling, and making other signs, to show 
l was not hurt ; whereat she was extremely rejoiced, calling 
the rftaid to take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs, and 
throw it out of the window. Then she set me on a table, 
where I showed her my hanger all bloody, and wiping it on 
the lappet of my coat, returned it to the scabbard. I was 
pressed to do more than one thing which another could noc 
do for me, and therefore endeavoured to make my mistress 
understand that I desired to be set down on the floor ; which 
after she had done, my bashfulness would not suffer me to 
express myself further, than by pointing to the door, and 
bowing several times. The good woman, with much difficulty, 
at last perceived what I would be at, and taking me up again 
in her hand, walked into the garden, where she set me down. 
1 went on one side about two hundred yards, and beckoning 
to her not to look or to follow me, I hid myself between two 
leaves >f sorrel, and there discharged the necessities of 
nature. 

I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on 
those and the like particulars, which, however insignificant 
they may appear to the grovelling vulgar minds, yet will 
certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his thoughts and 


imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as 
priv ate life, ■ iich was my sole design in presenting this, and 
.her accounts of my travels, to the world; wherein I have 
been chiefly studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments 
of learning or of style. But the whole scene of this voyage 
made so strong an impression on my mind, and is so deeply 
fixed in my memory, that in committing it to paper I did not 
omit one material circumstance; however, upon a strict 
review, I blotted out several passages of less moment, which 
were in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious 
and trifling, whereof travellers are often, perhaps not without 
iustice, accused. 


A V C T A G K 13 BE0J3DIKGNAG. 191 


CHATTER n. 


A description of the farmer’s daughter — The author carried to a market town, and 
then to the Metropolis — The particulars of his journey. 

My mistress had a daughter of nine years old, a child of 
towardly parts for her age, very dexterous at her needle, and 
skilful in dressing her baby. Her mother and she contrived 
to fit a baby’s cradle for me against night : the cradle was 
put into a small drawer of a cabinet, and the drawer placed 
upon a hanging shelf for fear of the rats. This was my bed 
all the time I stayed with those people, though made more 
convenient by degrees, as I began to learn their language and 
make my wants known. This young girl was so handy, that 
after I had once or twice pulled off my clothes before her, 
she was able to dress and undress me, though I never gave 
her that trouble when she would let me do either myself. 
She made me seven shirts, and some other linen, of as fine 
cloth as could be got, which indeed was coarser than sack- 
cloth ; and these she constantly washed for me with her own 
hands. She was likewise my school- mistress, to teach me the 
language ; when I pointed to any thing, she told me the name 
of it in her owm tongue, so that in a few days I was able to 
call for whatever I had a mind to. She was very good- 
natured, and not above forty feet high, being little for her 
age. She gave me the name of Grildrig , which the family 
took up, and afterwards the whole kingdom. The word 
imports what the Latins call nanunculus , the Italian 


X?)2 GULLIVER S T E A V f L ? , 

1 the English manikin. To her I chiefly 
owe my preservation in that country; we never parted while 
[ Vvas there : I railed her my Glumdalclitch , or little nurse 
k and should be guilty of great ingratitude, if I omitted this 
honourable mention of her care and affection towards me, 
which I heartily wish it lay in my power to requite as she 
deserves, instead of being the innocent, but unhappy instrument 
of her disgrace^s I have too much reason to fear. 

It now began ito be known and talked of in the neighbour- 
hood, that my master had found a strange animal in the field, 
About the bigness of a splacnuck , but exactly shaped in every 
part like a human creature ; which it also imitated in all its 
actions ; seemed to speak in a little language of his own, had 
already learned several words of theirs, went erect upon two 
egs, was tame and gentle, would come when it was called, do 
whatever it was bid, had the finest limbs in the world, and a 
omplexion fairer than a nobleman’s daughter of three years 
Id. 'Another farmer, who lived hard by, and was a particu- 
ir friend of my master, came on a visit on purpose to inquire 
ito the truth of this story. I was immediately produced, 
nd placed upon a table, where I walked as I was commanded, 
rew my hanger, put it up again, made my reverence to my 
taster’s guest, asked him in his own language how he did, 
id told him he was welcome , just as my little nurse had 
structed me. This man, who was old and dim-sighted, put 
1 his spectacles to behold me better; at which I could 
>t forbear laughing very heartily, for his eyes appeared like 
e full moon shining into a chamber at two windows. Our 
,^ople, who discovered the cause of my mirth, bore me com- 
pany in laughing, at which the old felloe was fool enough to 
be angry, and out of countenance. He had the character 
of a great miser ; and, to my misfortune, he well deserved it, 
by the cursed advice he gave my master, to show me as a 
sight upon a market-day in the next town, which was half 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDI3TG 


19 ' 


hour’s riding, about two and twenty miles from our house. T 
guessed there was some mischief contriving, when I observed 
my master and his friend whispering long together, sometimes 
pointing at me ; and my fears made me fancy that I overheard 
and understood some of their words. But the next morning 
Glumdalclitch, my little nurse, told me the whole matter, whch 
she had cunningly picked out of her mother. The poor girl 
laid me on her bosom, and fell a-weeping frith shame and 
grief. She apprehended some mischief would happen to 
me from rude vulgar folks, who might squeeze me to death, 
or break one of my limbs by taking me in their hands. 
She had also observed how modest I was in my nature, how 
nicely I regarded my honour, and what an indignity I should 
conceive it to be exposed for money as a public spectacle to 
the meanest of the people. She said, her papa and mamma 
had promised that Grildrig should be hers ; but now she 
found they meant to serve her as they did last year, when 
they pretended to give her a lamb, and yet, as soon as it was 
fat, sold it to a butcher. For my own part I may truly affirm, 
that I was less concerned than my nurse. I had a strong 
hope, which never left me, that I should one day recover my 
liberty; and as to the ignominy of being carried about for a 
monster, I considered myself to be a perfect stranger in the 
country, and that such a misfortune could never be charged 
upon me as a reproach, if ever I should return to England ; 
since the king of Great Britain himself, in my condition, must 
have undergone the same distress. 

My master, pursuant to the advice of his friend, carried me 
in a box the next market-day to the neighbouring town, and 
took along with him his little daughter, my nurse, upon a 
pillion behind him. The box was close on every side, with a 
little door for me to go in and out, and a few gimlet holes tc 
let in air. The girl had been so careful as to put the quil 
of her baby’s bed into it, for me to lie down on, B^vever, 

0 


194 


O ULLIVEi’^S TRAVELS. 


iscomposed in this journey, though 
it v -ere* but of half an iiour, for the horse went about forty 
^ : trotted so high, that the agitation was 

equal to the rising and falling of a ship in a great storm, but 
much more frequent. Our journey was somewhat farther 
than from London to St. Albans. My master alighted at an 
inn which he used to frequent ; and after consulting awhile 
with the inkeeper, and making some necessary preparations, 
he hired the grultrud , or crier, to give notice through the 
town, of a strange creature to be seen at the sign of the 
Green Eagle, not so big as a splacnuck (an animal in that 
country very finely shaped, about six feet long), and in every 
part of the body resembling a human creature, could speak 
several words, and perform a hundred diverting tricks. 

I was placed upon a table in the largest room of the inn, 
which might be near three hundred feet square. My little 
nurse stood on a low stool close to the table, 4o take care of 
me, and direct what I should do. My master, to avoid a 
crowd, would suffer only thirty people at a time to see me. 
I walked about on the table as the girl commanded : she 
asked me questions, as far as she knew my understanding of 
the language reached, and I answered them as loud as I could. 
I turned about several times to the company, paid my humble 
respects, said they were welcome , and used some other speeches 
I had been taught. I took up a thimble filled with liquor, 
which Glumdalclitch had given me for a cup, and drank their 
health. I drew out my hanger, and flourished with it after 
the manner of fencers in England. My nurse gave me a part 
of a straw, which I exercised as a pike, having learnt the art 
in ray youth. I was that day shown to twelve sets of com- 
pany, and as often forced to act over again the same fopperies, 
ill I was half dead with weariness and vexation; for those 

* The subjunctive mood is improperly used here ; it should have been the indicative 
“ though it was,” instead of “ though it were.” — Sheridan. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 

wh° had seen me made such wonderful reports, tk M ' ! 
people were ready to break down the doors to coi 
My master, for his own interest, would not suffer any 
touch me except my nurse ; and to prevent danger, benches 
were set round the table at such a distance as to put me on 
of everybody’s reach. However, an unlucky school-boy aimed 
a hazel-nut directly at my head, which very narrowly missed 
me ; otherwise it came with so much violence, that it would 
infallibly knocked out my brains, for it was almost as large 
as a small pumpion ; but I had the satisfactiob to see the 
young rogue well beaten, and turned out of the room. 

My master gave public, notice that he would show me again 
the next market-day; and in the mean time he prepared a 
more convenient vehicle for me, which he had reason enoug 
to do; for I was so tired with my first journey, and wit 
entertaining company for eight hours together, that I coul 
hardly stand u^>on my legs, or speak a word. It was at lea; 
three days before I recovered my strength ; and that I migl , 
have no rest at home, all the neighbouring gentlemen from 
a hundred miles round, hearing of my fame, came to see mo 
at my master’s own house. There could not be fewer tha 
thirty persons, with their wives and children (for the country 
is very populous) ; and my master demanded the rate of 
full room whenever he showed me at home, although it wer 
only to a single family ; so that for some time, I had but little 
ease «very every day of the week (except Wednesday, which 
is their Sabbath), although I was not carried to the town. 

My master finding how profitable I was likely to be, re- 
solved to carry me to the most considerable cities of the 

* The passion for shows and sight-seeing was never at a greater height in 
England than daring the reign of George I. ; and the wags of the day derive! great 
amusement from practising on the credulity of the people. Immense crowds 
assembled to see a n an creep into a quart bottle, and when they discovered that 
they had been deceived, were near destroying the house in their rage. Swift’s 
works contain several amusing parodies of the puffing placards In which thcsa 
exhibitions were announced. 


196 


: U L L I V E R ’ 8 TRAVELS. 


kingdom. Ha’, mg, therefore, provided himself with all things 
necessary for a long journey, and settled his affairs at home, 
\,c took leave of his wife, and upon the 17 th of August, 1703, 
about two months after my arrival, we set out for the metro- 
polis, situate near the middle of that empire, and about three 
thousand miles’ distance from our house. My master made 
his daughter Glumdalclitch ride behind him. She carried 
me on her lap, in a box tied about her waist. The girl had 
lined it on all sides with the softest cloth she could get, well 
quilted underneath, furnished it with her baby’s bed, provided 
me with linen and other necessaries, and made every thing 
as convenient as she could. We had no other company but 
i boy of the house, who rode after us with the luggage. 

My master’s design was to show me in all the towns by 
the way, and to step out of the road, for fifty or a hundred 
miles, to any village or person of quality’s house, where he 
might expect custom. We made easy journeys, of not above 
seven or eight score miles a-day ; for Glumdalclitch, on pur- 
pose to spare me, complained she was tired with the trotting 
of the horse. She often took me out of my box, at my own 
desire, to give me air, and show me the country, but always 
held me fast by a leading-string. We passed over five or six 
rivers, many degrees broader and deeper than the Nile or 
the Ganges ; and there was hardly a rivulet so small as the 
Thames at London Bridge. We were ten weeks in our 
journey, and I was shown in eighteen large towns, besides 
many villages, and private families. 

On the 26th day of October we arrived at the metropolis, 
called in their language Lorbrulgrud , or Pride of the 
Universe. My master took a lodging in the principal street 
of the city, not far from the royal palace, and put out 
bills in the usual form, containing an exact description of my 
person and parts. He hired a large room between three and 
four hundred feet wide. He provided a table sixty feet in 


A VOY AGE TO BEOBDING NAG. 

diameter, upon which I was to act my part, and paliaadoed 
it round three feet from the ea fe gjh, to prevent 

my falling over. I was shown ten times a day, to the wo 
and satisfaction of all people. I could now sneak the lam 
guage tolerably well, and perfectly understood every word that 
was spoken to me. Besides, I had learnt their . b abet, and 
could make shift to explain a sentence here and there; for 
Glumdalclitch had been my instructor while we were at house, 
and at leisure hours during our journey. She carried a little 
book in her pocket, not much larger than a Sanson’s Atla 
it was a common treatise for the use of young girls, giving 
a short account of their religion ; out of this she taught n h 
my letters, and interpreted the words. 


CHAPTER III. 


The author sent for to court— The queen buys him of his master the farmer, and 
presents him to the king— He disputes with his majesty’s great scholars— An 
apartment at court provided for the author — He is in high favour "Tith the queen 
— He stands up for the honour of his own country — His quarrels with the queen’s 
dwarf. 


Labours such as I underwent every day, made, in a few 
tfeeks, a very considerable change in my health ; the more 
ny master got by me the more insatiable he grew. I had 
juke lost my stomach, an 1 was almost reduced to a skeleton. 
The farmer observed it, and concluding I must soon die, 
esolved to make as good a hand of me as he could. While 
le was thus reasoning and resolving with himself, a sardral , 
>r gentleman-usher, came from court, commanding my master 
o carry me immediately thither for the diversion of the queen 
and her ladies. Some of the latter had already been to sec 
ue, and reported strange things of my beauty, behaviour, and 
;ood sense. Her majesty, and those who attended her, were 
•eyond measure delighted with my demeanour. I fell on my 
! :nees, and begged the honour of kissing her imperial foot ; 
ut this gracious princess held out her little finger towards me, 
ft6r I was set on the table, which I embraced in both my 
rms, and put the tip of it with the utmost respect to my lip. 
he made me some general questions about my country and 
my travels, which I answered as dis- in cllv, and ’> • ~ 

as I could. She asked “whether I 

court?” I bowed down to the board ol ! : ,i . and humbly 


A VOYAGE TO BBOBDIN NAG. 


I?n 


answered, “that I was my master’s slave ; but if I were at my 
own disposal, I should be proud to devote my life to her 
majesty’s service.” She then asked my master, “ whether lie 
was willing to sell me at a good price?” He, who appre- 
hended I could not live a month, was ready enough to part 
with me, and demanded a thousand pieces of gold, which 
w r ere ordered him on the spot, each piece being about the 
bigness of eight hundred moidores; but allowing for the pro- 
portion of all things between that country and Europe, and 
the high price ‘of gold among them, was hardly so great a s, i m 
as a thousand guineas would be in England. I then said to the 
queen, “ since I was now her majesty’s most humble creat a 
and vassal, I must beg the favour that Glumdalclitch, w i > 
had always tended me with so much care and kindness, am] 
understood to do it so well, might be admitted into her serv; :t , 
and continue to be my nurse and instructor.” 

Her majesty agreed to my petition, and easily got dm 
farmer’s consent, who was glad enough to have life daughter 
preferred at court, and the poor girl herself was not able 1 1 
bide herjoy. My late master withdrew, bidding me farewell, 
and saying he had left me in a good service ; to which 1 
replied not a word, only making him a slight bow. 

The queen observed my coldness, and, when the farrr ' 
was gone out of the apartment, asked me the reason. I ma 
bold to tell her majesty, “that I owed no other obligation ?.-<> 
my late master, than his not dashing out the brains of a po >r 
harmless creature found by chance in his fields, which obliga- 
tion was amply recompensed by the gain he had made m show- 
ing me through half the kingdom, and the price he had now 
sold me for. That the life I had since led, was laborious enough 
to kill an animal of ten times my strength. That my health 
was much impaired by the continual drudgery of entertaining 
the rabble every hour of the day; and that, if my master had 
not thought my life in danger, her majesty would not have 


gcleivbb’b travels. 

' cheap a bargain. But as I was out of all fear of being 
ill treated, under the protection of so great and good an 
empress, the ornament of nature, the darling of the world, the 
delight of her subjects, the phoenix of the creation ; so I hoped 
my late master’s apprehensions would appear to be groundless ; 
for I already found my spirits revive, by the influence of her 
most august presence.” 

This was the sum of my speech, delivered with great impro- 
prieties and hesitation. The latter part was altogether framed 
in the style peculiar to that people, whereof I learned some 
phrases from Glumdalclitch, while she was carrying me to 

court. 

The queen, giving great allowance for my defectivenesn in 
speaking, was, however, surprised at so much wit and good 
sense in so diminutive an animal. She took me in her own 
hand, and carried me to the king, who was then retired to his 
cabinet. His majesty, a prince of much gravity and austere 
countenance, not observing my shape at first view, asked the 
queen, after a cold manner, “how long it was since. she greM 
fond of a splacnucJc ?” for such it seems he took me to be, as 
I lay upon my breast in her majesty’s hand. But this princess, 
who has an infinite deal of wit and humor, set me gently on 
my feet upon the scrutoire, and commanded me to give his 
majesty an account of myself, which I did in a very few 
words, and Glumdalclitch, who attended at the cabinet door, 
and could not endure I should be out of her sight, being 
admitted, confirmed all that had passed from my arrival at 
her father’s house. 

The king, although he be as learned a person as any in his 
dominions, had been educated in the study of philosophy, and 
particularly mathematics ; yet when he observe^ my shape 
exactly, and saw me walk erect. ?fcr< i b< gan to . . von- 

ceived I might be a piece of clock-wori 
country arrived to a very great perfection 


A VOYAGE TO BB0BDIS6U AO, 

ingenious artist. But when lie heard ray voice and found 
what I delivered to be regular and rational, he could not con- 
ceal his astonishment. He was by no means satisfied with, 
the relation I gave him of the manner I came into his king- 
dom, but thought it a story concerted between Glumdalclit< 
and her father, who had taught me a set of words to mal .*> 
me sell at a better price. Upon this, imagination, he p ; 
several other questions to me, and still received ration 
answers, no otherwise defective than by a foreign accent, and 
an imperfect knowledge in the language, with some rustic 
phrases which I had learned at the farmer’s house, and did net, 
suit the polite style of a court. 

His majesty sent for three great scholars, who -were then in 
the weekly waiting, according to the custom of that country. 
These gentlemen, after they had aw'hile examined my shape 
with much nicety, were of different opinions concerning me. 
They all agreed that I could not be produced according to the 
regular laws of nature, because I was not framed with a capa- 
city of preserving my life, either by swiftness, or climbing of 
trees, or digging holes in the earth. They observed by my 
teeth, which they viewed with great exactness, that I was a car- 
nivorous animal; yet most quadrupeds being an overmatch foi 
me, and field mice, with some others, too nimble, they could 
not imagine how I should be able to support myself unless I 
fed upon snails and other insects; which they offered, by 
manyjearned arguments,* to evince that I could not possibly 
do. One of these virtuosi seemed to think that I might be an 
embryo, or abortive birth. But this opinion was rejected by 
the other two, who observed my limbs to be perfect and fin 
ished, and that I had lived several years, as it was manifest 

"By tiii 3 reasoning the author probably intended to ridicule the pride of thos 
r ■ . ■ l , who have thought fit to arraign the wisdom of Providence in th-i crea- 

tion anu . ivernment of the world; whose cavils are specious, like those of the 
B r ot >d i n r a gi an sages only in proportion to the ignorance of those to whom they 
h re r r o posed. — Hawkemoo rth. 


9 * 


c U L L I EE’s TRAVELS. 

fro a niv be?ird. tli Lamps whereof they plainly discovered 
through a mngn tlying-gl tss. They would not allow me to be 
a dwarf, because my littleness was beyond all degrees of corn- 
parson; for t^e queen’s favourite dwarf, the smallest ever 
known in that kingdom, was near thirty feet high. After 
much debate, they concluded unanimously that I was only 
relplum scalclath, which is interpreted literally lusus natures ; 
a determination exactly agreeable to the modern philosophy 
of Europe, whose professors, disdaining the old evasion of 
>ccult causes, whereby the followers of Aristotle endeavoured 
;n vain to disguise their ignorance, have invented this wonder- 
ul solution of all difficulties, to the unspeakable advancement 
■ 'f human knowledge. 

After this decisive conclusion, I entreated to be hoard a 
ord or two. I applied myself to the king, and assured his 
majesty, “that I came from a country which abounded with 
' iveral millions of both sexes, and of ray own stature ; where 
: le animals, trees, and houses, were all in proportion, and 
here, by consequence, I might be as able to defend mvself 
k id to find sustenance, as any of his majesty’s subjects could do 
» ;re ; which I took for a full answer to those gentlemen’s 
I • guments.” To this they only replied with a smile of con- 
npt, saying, “that the farmer had instructed me very well 
in my lesson.”* The king, who had a much better under- 
standing, dismissing his learned men, sent for the farmer, who 
b\ good fortune was not yet gone out of town.f Having, 

; rCfore, first examined him privately, and then confronted 
him with me and the young girl, his majesty began to think 

* This satire is levelled against all who reject those facts for which they cannot 
perfectly account, notwithstanding the absurdity of rejecting the testimony by whicn 
they are supported. — Haickemoorth.- 

+ Sir Walter Scott thinks that Swift has designedly introduced some traits of 
W T illiam Ill.’s character iD the sketch of the king of Brobdingnag ; but if any thing 
more than the ideal of a patriot monarch is designed, it is probable that the Dean 
had an eye to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II., from whom the tories had 
teamed favorable anticipations. 


A VOYAGE TO BU0BDINGNA6. 203 


that what we told him might possibly be true. He desired 
the queen to order that a particular care should be taken of 
me; and was of opinion that Glumdalclitch should still 
continue in her office of tending me, because he observed we 
had a great affection for each other. A convenient apartment 
was provided for her at court ; she had a sort of governess 
appointed to take care of her education, a maid to dress he: . 
and two other servants for menial offices ; but the care of 
me was wholly appropriated to herself. The queen com- 
manded her own cabinetmaker to contrive a box, that might 
serve me for a bed-chamber, after the model that Glumdal- 
clitch and I should agree upon. This man was a mo.t 
ingenious artist, and according to my direction, in thr-.e 
weeks, finished for me a wooden chamber of sixteen fe e 
square, and twelve high, with sash windows, a door and .tv* o 
closets, like a London bed-chamber. The board, that mai ■* 
the ceiling, was to be lifted up and down by two hinges, to 
put in a bed ready furnished by her majesty’s upholster* i, 
which Glumdalclitch took out every day to air, made it widi 
her own hands, and letting it down at night, locked up t - 
roof over me. A nice workman, who was famous for lit lo 
curiosities, undertook to make me two chairs, with backs a 
frames of a substance not unlike ivory, and two tables with 
a cabinet to put my things in. The room was quilted on ill 
sides, as well as the floor and ceiling, to prevent any accident 
from the carelessness of those who carried me, and to break 
the force of a jolt, when I went in a coach. I desired a le 
for my door, to prevent rats and mice from coming in. The 
smith, after several attempts, made the smallest that ever v • 
seen among them, for I have known a larger at the gate of a 
gentleman’s house in England.* I made a shift to keep the 


* Swift’s ■frequent references to proportions, both here and in the Voyage to Lilli* 
put, give an air of probability to his story which none of his imitators have beer 
mole to attain. 


204 : gulliver’s travels. 

* 

key in a pocket of my own, fearing Glumdalclitch might lose 
it. The queen likewise ordered the thinnest silks that could 
be gotten, to make me clothes, not much thicker than an 
English blanket, very cumbersome till I was accustomed to 
them. They were after the fashion of the kingdom, partly 
resembling the Persian, and partly the Chinese, and are a 
very grave and decent habit. 

The queen became so fond of my company, that she could 
lot dine without me. I had a table placed upon the same at 
which her majesty eat, just at her elbow, and a chair to sit 
on. Glumdalclitch stood on a stool on the floor near my 
table, to assist and take care of me. I had an entire set of 
silver dishes and plates, and other necessaries, which, in pro- 
portion to those of the queen, were not much bigger than 
what I have seen in a London toy-shop, for the furniture of a 
baby-liouse : these my little nurse kept in her pocket in a 
silver box, and gave me at meals as I wanted them, always 
cleaning them herself. No person dined with the queen but 
the two princesses royal, the elder sixteen years old, and the 
younger at that time thirteen and a month. Her majesty 
used to put a bit of meat upon one of my dishes, out of which 
I carved for myself, and her diversion was to see me eat in 
miniature ; for the queen (who had indeed but a weak 
stomach) took up, at one mouthful, as much as a dozen 
English farmers could eat at a meal, which to me was for some 
time a very nauseous sight. She would craunch the wing of 
a lark, bones . and all, between her teeth, although it were nino 
times as large as that of a full-grown turkey ; and put a bit 
of bread in her mouth, as big as two twelvepenny-1 oaves. 
She drank out of a golden cup, above a hogshead at a draught 
Her knives were twice as long as a scythe set straight upon 
the handle. The spoons, forks, and other instruments, were 
all in the same proportion. I remember when Glumdalclitch 
carried me, ou* of curiosity, to see some of the tables at court, 

% 


TO BROBDINGN AO, 


A ■' ) v A G K 



where ten or a dozen of those enormous knives and forks were 
lifted up together, I thought I had never till then beheld so 
terrible a sight. 

It is the custom, that every Wednesday (which, as I have 
observed, is their sabbath), the king and queen, with the. royal 
issue of both sexes, dine together in the apartment of his 
majesty, to whom I was now become a great favourite ; and 
at these times, my little chair and table were placed at h' - 
left hand, before one of his salt-cellars. This prince took ; . 
pleasure in conversing with me, inquiring into the manners, 
religion, laws, government, and learning of Europe, wherein I 
gave him the best account I was able. His apprehension wa 
so clear, and his judgment so exact, that he made very wis 
reflections and observations upon all I said. But I confess, 
that after I had been a little too copious in talking of my own 
beloved country, of our trade and wars by sea and land, of 
our schisms in religion, and parties in the state, the prejudices 
of his education prevailed so far, that he could not forbear 
taking me up in his right hand, and, stroking me gently with 
the other, after a hearty fit of laughing, asked me whether I 
was a whig or tory ? Then turning to his first minister, who 
waited behind him with a white staff, near as tall as the main- 
mast of the Royal Sovereign, he observed, “ how contempti- 
ble a thing was human grandeur which could be mimicked 
by such diminutive insects as I ; and yet,” says he, “ I dare 
engage these creatures have their titles and distinctions of 
honour ; they contrive little nests and burrows, that they call 
houses and cities ; they make a figure and dress in equipage ; 
they love, they fight, they dispute, they cheat, they betray.” 
And thus he continued on, while my colour came and went 
several times, with indignation, to hear our noble country, the 
mistress of arts and arms, the scourge of France, the arbitress 
of Europe, the seat of virtue, piety, honour, and truth, the 
pride and envy of the world, so contemptuously treated.* 

• 1 *.<•**» -t. j , ’.viiiwh hare been the coinmon-placos of party during the last twn 


206 


G ulliveb’s. travels. 


But as I was not in a condition to resent injuries, so upon 
mature thoughts I began to doubt whether I was injured 
or no.* For, after having been accustomed several months to 
the sight and converse of this people, and observed every 
object upon which I cast "mine eyes to be of proportionable 
magnitude, the horror I had at first conceived from their bulk 
and aspect, was so far worn off, that if I had then beheld a 
company oi English lords and ladies in their finery and birth' 
day clothes, acting their several parts in the most courtly 
manner of strutting, and bowing, and prating ; to say the 
truth, I should have been strongly tempted to laugh as much 
it them, as the king and his grandees did at me. Neither, 
ndeed, could I forbear smiling at myself, when the queen 
ised to place me upon her hand towards a looking-glass, by 
which both our persons appeared before me in full view 
together ; and there could be nothing more ridiculous than 
v the comparison; so that I really began to imagine myself 
windled many degrees below my usual size. 

Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the queen’s 
varf; who, being of the lowest stature that was ever in that 
( untry (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet high), 
t came so insolent at seeing a creature so much beneath him, 
t)j it he would always affect to swagger and look big as he 
passed by me in the queen’s antechamber, while I was stand- 
ing on some table talking with the lords or ladies of the court, 
and he seldom failed of a smart word or two upon my little- 
ness ; against which I could only revenge myself by calling 
him brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such repartees 

centuries, are rendered supremely ridiculous by their contrast with the speech of 
the king of Brobdingnag. 

* “ Whether I was injured or no.” — This vulgar and ungrammatical mode of 
; expression has become almost universal ; but instead of “ no” the particle “ not” 
should be used. The absurdity of the former will appear by only repeating the 
word to which it fefers, and annexing to it, as thus — “ whether I were injured, or 
no injured,” whereas, whether I were injured, or not injured, is good grammar 
— Sheridan . 


A Y O Y A G K T O U ROBDI $ G N A G . 207 

as are usually in the mouths of court pages. One day at 
dinner, this malicious little cub was so nettled with something 
I had said to him, that, raising himself upon the frame of her 
majesty’s chair, he took me up by the middle, as I was sitting 
down, not thinking any harm, and let me drop into a large 
silver bowl of cream, and then ran away as fast as he could. 
I fell over head and ears, and if I had not been a good 
swimmer it might have gone very hard with me ; for Glum- 
dalclitch in that instant happened to be at the other end of 
the room, and the queen was in such a fright that she wan ■ [ 
presence of mind to assist me. But my little nurse ran to 
my relief, and took me out, after I had swallowed abov a 
quart of cream. I was put to bed; however I received no 
other damage than the loss of a suit of clothes, which was 
utterly spoiled. The dwarf was soundly whipped, and as a 
farther punishment, forced to drink up the bowl of cream (into 
whicn he had thrown me; neither was he ever restored to 
favor ; for soon after the queen bestowed him on a lady 
high quality, so that 1 saw him no more, to my very 
satisfaction ; for I could not tell to what extremity sue i 
malicious urchin might have carried his resentment. 

He had before served me a scurvy trick, which set n 
queen a-laughing, although at the same time she was hea ily 
vexed, and would have immediately cashiered him, if I nad 
not been so generous as to intercede. Her majesty 
taken a marrow-bone upon her plate, and, after knoc.- 
out the marrow, placed the bone again on the dish erect, as 
jt stood before; the dwarf, watching his opportunity, while 
Glumdalclitcli was gone to the sideboard, mounted the stool 
that she stood on to take care of me at meals, took me up in 
both hands, and squeezing my legs together, wedged them 
into the marrow- bone above my waist, where I stuck for some 
time, and made a very ridiculous figure. I believe it was 
near a minute before any one knew what was become of me ' 


208 


GULlITEll’s TRAVELS. 


for I thought it below me to cry out. But, as princes seldom 
get their meat hot, my legs were not scalded, only my stock- 
ings and breeches in a sad condition. The dwarf, at my 
entreaty, had no other punishment than a sound whipping. 

I was frequently rallied by the queen upon account of my 
fearfulness; and she used to ask me whether the people of 
my country were as great cowards as myself? The occasion 
was this ; the kingdom is much pestered with flies in summer ; 
and these odious insects, each of them as big as a Dunstable 
lark, hardly gave me any rest while I sat at dinner, with their 
continual humming and buzzing about mine ears. They 
would sometimes alight upon my victuals, and leave their 
loathsome excrement or spawn behind, which to me was very 
visible, though not to the natives of that country, whose 
larger optics were not so acute as mine in viewing smaller 
objects. Sometimes they would fix upon my nose or fore- 
head, where they stung me to the quick, smelling very offen- 
sively ; and I could easily trace that viscous matter, which, 
our naturalists tell us, enables those creatures to walk with 
their feet upwards upon a ceiling. I had much ado to defend 
myself against these detestable animals, and could not forbear 
starting when they came on my face. It was the common 
practice of the dwarf, to catch a number of these insects in 
his hand, as school-boys do among us, and let them out sud- 
denly under my nose, on purpose to frighten me, and divert 
the queen. My remedy was to cut them in pieces with my 
knife, as they flew in the air, wherein my dexterity was much 
admired. 

I remember one morning, when Glumdalclitch had set me 
in a box upon a window, as she usually did in fair days to 
give me air (for I durst not venture to let the box be bung 
on a nail out of the window, as we do with cages in England) 
after I had lifted up one of my sashes, and sat down at my 
table to eat a piece of sweet cake for my breakfast, abcve 


A YOYAG T. TO LIU.] P U T . 

twenty wasps, allure-.: 
room, humming- louder than the 

Some of them seized my cake, and carried piece-meal aw ay . 
others flew about my head and face, confounding me with 
the noise, and putting me in the utmost terror of their stings. 
However, I had the courage to rise and draw my hanger, and 
attack them in the air. I despatched four of them, but the 
rest got away, and I presently shut my window. These 
insects were as large as partridges ; I took out their stings, 
found them an inch and a half long, and as sharp as needles. 
I carefully preserved them all ; and having since shown them, 
with some other curiosities, in several parts of Europe ; upon 
my return to England I gave three of them to Gresham 
College, and kept the fourth for myself. 


*210 


Gulliver’s travels. 




CHAPTER IV. 

he country described — A proposal for correcting modern map3 — The king’s pa'ace, 
and some account of the metropolis — The author’s way of travelling — The clvef 
temple described. 

V 

Journeys with Glumdalclitch having given me some know- 
dge of the country, I now intend to give the reader a short 
< inscription of it, as far as I travelled, which was not above 
\ r o thousand miles round Lorbrulgrud, the metropolis. For 
the queen, whom I always attended, never went farther when 
sue accompanied the king in his progress, and there stayed 
till his majesty returned from viewing his frontiers. The 
whole extent of this prince’s dominions reaches about six 
t housand miles in length, and from three to five in breadth ; 
whence I cannot but conclude, that our geographers of 
Europe are in a great error, by supposing nothing but sea 
between Japan and California; for it was ever my opinion, 
hat there must.be a balance of earth to counterpoise the 
;reat continent of Tartary ; and therefore they ought to 
orrect their maps and charts, by joining this vast tract of 
and to the north-west parts of America, wherein I shall be 
eady to lend them my assistance. 

The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the north-east 
by a ridge of mountains thirty miles high, which are altogether 
npassable, by reason of the volcanoes upon the tops : neither 
3 the most learned know what sort of mortals inhabit beyond 
lose mountains, or whether they be inhabited at all. On 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 211 


the three other sides, it is bounded by the ocean. There is 
not one seaport in the whole kingdom ; and those parts of 
the coasts into which the rivers ' issue, are so full of pointed 
rocks, and the sea generally so rough, that there is no ventur- 
ing with the smallest of their boats ; so that these people are 
wholly excluded from any commerce with the rest of the 
world.* But the large rivers are full of vessels, and abound 
with excellent fish : for they seldom get any from the sea, 
because the sea-fish are of the same size with those in 
Europe, and consequently not worth catching ; whereby it is 
manifest, that nature, in the production of plants and animals 
of so extraordinary a bulk, is wholly confined to this con- 
tinent, of which I leave the reasons to be determined by 
philosophers. However, now and then they take a whale 
that happens to be dashed against the rocks, which the com- 
mon people feed on heartily. These whales I have known 
so large, that a man could hardly carry one upon his 
shoulders ; and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in 
hampers to Lorbrulgrud : I saw one of them in a dish at the 
king’s table, which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe 
he was fond of it; for I think, indeed, the bigness disgusted 
him, although I have seen one somewhat larger in Green- 
land. 

The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, 
near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages. 


* This description of a sea that could not be safely navigated appears to have 
been taken from that veracious traveller, Sir J. Mandeville. “ From the land of 
Bactry, men go many days’ journey to the land of Prester John, that is a great 
emperor of Inde ; and men call his land the yle of Pantoxore. . . . There are 
many places in the sea where are many rockes of a stone that is called adamand, 
the which of his own kinde draweth all manner of yron, and therefore there may 
be no ships that hath yron nayles pass but it draweth them to him, and there- 
fore they dare not go into that country with ships for fear of adamand. I went 
once into that sea, and saw along as it had been a great yle of trees stockes and 
branches growinge, and the shipman told me that those were of greate shippes that 
abode there through the vertue of the adamandes, and of things that wer9 in the 
shippes, whereof those trees sprung and waxed.” 


212 


GULLIVERS TRAVELS. 


To satisfy my curious reader, it may be sufficient to describe 
Lorbrulgrud. This city stands upon almost two equal parts, 
on each side the river that passses through. It contains above 
eighty thousand houses, and about six hundred thousand 
inhabitants. It is length three glomglungs (which make about 
fifty-four English miles), and two and a half in breadth ; as I 
measured it myself in the royal map made by the king’s 
order, which was laid on the ground on purpose for me, and 
extended a hundred feet : I paced the diameter and circum- 
ference several times barefoot, and computing by the scale 
measured it pretty exactly. 

The king’s palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of build- 
ing about seven miles round : the chief rooms are generally 
two hundred and forty feet high, and broad and long in pro- 
portion. A coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me, 
wherein her governess frequently took her out to see the town 
or go among the shops ; and I was always of the party, car- 
ried in my box ; although the girl, at my own desire, would 
often take me out and hold me in her hand, that I might 
more conveniently view the houses and the people, as we 
massed along the streets. I reckoned our coach to be about a 
square of Westminister Hall, but not altogether so high : 
however, I cannot be very exact. One day the governess 
ordered our coachman to stop at several shops, where the 
beggars, watching their opportunity, crowded to the sides of 
the coach, and gave me the most horrible spectacle that ever 
an European eye beheld. There was a woman with a cancer 
in her breast, swelled to a monstrous size, full of holes, in two 
or three of which I could have easily crept, and covered my 
whole body. There was a fellow with a wen on his neck, 
larger than five woollen packs ; and another with a couple of 
wooden legs, each about twenty feet high. But the most 
hateful sight of all was the lice crawling on their clothes. I 
could see distinctly the limbs of these vermin with my naked 


A VOYAGE TO OEOBDUQNAQ iii.fi 

eye, much better than those of a European louse through a 
microscope, and their snouts with which they rooted lif e 
swine. They were the first I had ever beheld, and I should 
have been curious enough to dissect one of them, if I had had 
proper instruments, which I unluckily left behind me in the 
ship, although, indeed, the sight was so nauseous that it pei 
fectly turned my stomach. 

Besides the large box in which I was usually carried, t 
queen ordered a smaller one to be made for me, of about 
twelve feet square, and ten high, for the convenience of trav [ 
ling ; because the other was somewhat too large for Glui 
dalclitch’s lap, and cumbersome in the coach , it was made by 
the same artist, whom I directed in the whole contrivanc 
This travelling closet was an exact square, with a window in 
the middle of three of the squares, and each window was lat- 
ticed with iron wire on the outside, to prevent accidents in 
long journeys. On the fourth side, which had no windov , 
two strong staples were fixed, through which the person 
diat carried me, when I had a mind to be on horseback, put 
i leathern belt and buckled it about his waist. This was 
always the office of some grave trusty servant, in whom I 
could confide, whether I attended the king and queen in their 
progresses, or were disposed to see the gardens, or pay a 
visit to some great lady or minister of state in the court, when 
Glumdalelitch happened to be out of order ; for I soon began 
to be known and esteemed among the greatest officers, I sup- 
pose more upon account of their majesties’ favour, than any 
merit of my own. In journeys, when I was weary of thf 
coach, a servant on horseback would buckle on my box, and 
place it upon a cushion before him ; and there I had a full 
prospect of the country on three sides, from my three windows. 
I had, in this closet, a field-bed, and a hammock hung from 
the ceiling, two chairs, and a table, neatly screwed to the 
floor, to prevent being tossed about by the agitation of the 


21 4 • G U L LIVER* S TRAVELS. 

horse, or the coach. And hiving been long used to sea 
voyages, those motior.% although sometimes very violent, did 
not much discompose me. • 

Whenever I had a mind to see the town, it was always in 
my travelling closet : which Glumdalclitch held in her lap 
in a kind of open sedan, after the fashion of the country, 
borne by four men, and attended by two others in 
the queen’s livery. The people, who had often heard of me, 
were very curious to crowd about the sedan, and the girl was 
complaisant enough to make the bearers stop, and to take me v 
in her hand that I might be more conveniently seen. 

I was very desirous to see the chief temple, and particularly 
the tower belonging to it, which is reckoned the highest in 
the kingdom. Accordingly, one day my nurse carried me 
thither, but I may truly say I came back disappointed ; for 
the height is not above three thousand feet, reckoning from 
the ground to the highest pinnacle top ; which, allowing for 
the difference between the size of those people and us in 
Europe, is no great matter for admiration, nor at all equal 
in proportion (if I rightly remember) to Salisbury steeple. 
But, not to detract from a nation, to which, during my life 
I shall acknowledge myself extremely obliged, it must be 
allowed, that whatever this famous tower wants in height, is 
'imply made up in beauty and strength ; for the walls are 
near a hundred feet thick, built of hewn stone, whereof each 
is about forty feet square, and adorned on all sides with 
statues of gods and emperors, cut in marble, larger than the 
• ife, placed in their several niches. I measured a little finger 
which had fallen down from one of these statues, and lay 
unperceived among some rubbish, and found it exactly four 
feet and an inch in length.* Glumdalclitch wrapped it up 

* Had Swift seen the colossal statuary of ancient Egypt, he would have found 
that it rivalled the imaginary sculpture of Brobdingnag. Belzoni has given the 
exact dimensions of the four stupendous figures which are seated side by side in 
front of the excavated temple of Ipsambul ; each -m though seated, hieasus&f 

% i ' '2 


A VOIAG 


r O BROB D12TO X A Q . 15 

in her handkerchief, and cam i in he: to 

keep among other trinkets, of which the girl was ver fon 1, 
as children at her age usually are. 

The king’s kitchen is, indeed, a noble L iM : v vaulted at 
top, and about six hundred feet high. The gie it < ven is not 
so wide, by ten paces, as the cupola at St. for i 

measured the latter on purpose, after my return. In it if i 
should describe the kitchen grate, the prodigious pots and 
^kettles, the joints of meat turning on the spits, with many 
ether particulars, perhaps I should be hardly believed; :ii. 
least a severe critic would be apt to think I enlarged a litt 
as travellers are often suspected to do. To avoid which ce 
sure, I fear I have run too much into the other extreme, ai 1 
that if this treatise should happen to be translated into t e 
language of Brobdingnag (which is the general name of th it 
kingdom), and transmitted thither, the king and his people 
would have reason to complain that I had done them an injui \ 
by a false and diminutive representation.* 

His majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses in li > 
stables ; they are generally from fifty-four to sixty feet hig . 
But, when he goes abroad on solemn days, he is attended, fi 
state, by a militia guard of five hundred horse, which, indeej , 
I thought was the most splendid sight that could be evi 
beheld, till I saw part of his army in battalia, whereof I sha 
rind another occasion to speak. 

sixty -four feet from the ground to the top of the cap : the arm, from the should r 
to the elbow, measures fifteen feet and a half, the ear three feet and a half, and the 
chest, across the shoulders, twenty-five feet four inches. Yet the great Sphinx 
half as large again as these. Among the Egyptian antiquities there is a colossal 
fist, probably belonging to a sphinx: were the hand opened, the finger would be 
nearly of the size of that which Glumdalclitch is said to have picked up. 

* Lord Orrery has directed attention to the air of probability which Swift’s 
minute attention to proportions, and his reference to familiar objects as a standard, 
give to his account of Lilliput. The same tact is not less observable in the account 
of Brobdingnag, and particularly in the comparison of the royal kitchen with the 
cupola of St. Paul’s; perhaps also Swift intended to hint that St. Paul’s, however 
splended as an edifice, does not, like the gcthic cathedrals, immediately suggest that 
•t was erected for religious purposes. 


216 


G TJ l L I V & li ’ 3 T K ‘ 7EL8, 


CHAPTER V. 


Several adventures that happened to^he author — The execution of a criminal — The 
author shows his skill in navigation. 


Justly may I say, that I should have lived happy enough 
in the country, if my littleness had not exposed me to several 
ridiculous and troublesome accidents ; some of which I shall 
venture to relate. Glumdalclitch often carried me into the 
gardens of the court in my smaller box, and would sometimes 
take me out of it, and hold me in her hand, or set me down 
to walk. I remember, before the dwarf left the queen, he 
followed us one day into those gardens, and my nurse having 
set me down, he and I being close together, near some 
dwarf apple-trees, I must need show my wit, by a silly 
allusion between him and the trees, which happened to 
hold in their language as it does in ours. Whereupon, tho 
malicious rogue, watching his opportunity, when I was walk- 
ing under one of them, shook it directly over my head, by 
which a dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol 
barrel, came tumbling about my ears ; one of them hit me on 
' he back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down flat on 
my face ; but I received no other hurt, and the dwarf was 
pardoned at my desire, because I had given the provocation. 

Another day, Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grass-plot 
to divert myself, while she walked at some distance with her 
governess. In the mean time there suddenly fell such a violent 
shower of hail, that I was immediately, by the force of it, 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNA 

struck to the ground ; and when I was down, the hailstones 
gave me such cruel bangs all over the body, as if I had been 
pelted with tennis-balls ; however, I made a shift to creep on 
• all fours, and shelter myself, by lying flat on my face, on the 
lee-side of a border of lemon-thyme ; but so bruised from 
head to foot, that I could not go abroad in ten days. Neither is 
that at all to be wondered at, because nature, in that country, 
observing the same proportion through all her operations, a 
hailstone is near eighteen hundred times as large as one in 
Europe which I can assert upon experience, having been so 
curious* to weigh and measure them. 

But a more dangerous accident happened to me in the same 
garden, when my little nurse, believing she had put me in a 
secure place (which I often entreated her to do, that I might 
enjoy my own thoughts), and having left my box at home, to 
avoid the trouble of carrying it, went to another part of the 
garden with her governess and some ladies of her acquaintance. 
While she was absent, and out of hearing, a small white 
spaniel' that belonged to one of the chief gardeners, having 
got by accident into the garden, happened to range near the 
place where I lay ; the dog, following the scent, came directly 
up, and taking me in his mouth, ran straight to his master 
wagging his tail, and set me gently on the ground. By good 
fortune he had been so well taught, that I was carried between 
his teeth without the least hurt, or even tearing my clothes. 
But the poor gardener, who knew me well, and had a great 
kindness for me, was in a terrible fright : he gently took me 
up in both his hands, and asked me how I did ; but I was so 
amazed and out of breath, that I could not speak a word. In a 
few minutes I came to myself, and he carried me safe to my little 
nurse, who, by this time, had returned to the place where she 
left me, and was in cruel agonies when I did not appear, nor 


* The particle “ as,” is here improperly omitted; it should be, so curious “ «s M 
u> weigh, etc . — Sheridan 


10 


Gulliver’s travels. 



answer when she called. She severely reprimanded the 
gardener on account of his dog. But the thing was hushed 
up, and never known at court, for the girl was afraid of the 
queen’s anger ; and truly, as to myself, I thought it would 
not be for my reputation that such a story should go about. 

This accident absolutely determined Glumdalclitch never 
to trust me abroad for the future out of her sight. I had 
n long afraid of this resolution, and therefore concealed 
from, her some little unlucky adventures, that happened in 
th< se times when I was left by myself. Once a kite, hovering 
jr the garden, made a stoop at me, and if I had not 
iolutely drawn my hanger, and run under a thick espalier, 
would have certainly carried me away in his talons, 
lother time, walking to the top of a fresh molehill, I fell to 
my neck in the hole, through which that animal had cast up 
the earth, and coined some lie, not worth remembering, to 
excuse myself for spoiling my clothes. I likewise broke my 
nght shin against the shell of a snail, which I happened to 
st imble over, as I was walking alone and thinking of poor 
England. 

I cannot tell whether I were more pleased or mortified to 
■ serve, in those solitary walks, that the smaller birds did not 
appear to be at all afraid of me, but would hop about within 
« yard’s distance, looking for worms and other food, with as 
much indifference and security as if no creature at all were 
near them. I remember, a thrush had the confidence to 
snatch out of my hand, with his bill, a piece of cake that 
Glumdalclitch had just given me for my breakfast. When I 
attempted to catch any of these birds, they would boldly turn 
against me, endeavouring to peck my fingers, which I durst 
not venture within their reach ; and then they would hop 
back unconcerned, to hunt for worms or snails, as they did 
before. But one day, I took a thick cudgel, and threw it 
with all my strength so luckily, at a finnet, that 1 knocked 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDlNGNA G ? L i 

him down, and seizing him by the neck with both my hn 
ran with him in triumph to my nurse. However, the l : 
who had only been stunned, recovering himself, gave me 
many boxes with his wings, on both sides of my head , d 
body, though I held him at arm’s length, and was out of 
reach of his claws, that I was twenty times thinking to 
him go. But I was soon relieved by one of our servants, v 
wrung off the bird’s neck, and I had him next day for dim 
by the queen’s command. This linnet, as near as I . 
remember, seemed to be somewhat larger than an Eng] 
swan. 

The maids of honour often invited Glumdalclitch to t 
< partmeuts, and desired that she would bring me alono* ' ith 
her, on purpose to have the pleasure of seeing and touch. ng 
me* They would often strip me naked from top to toe, and 
lay me at full length in their bosoms, wherewith I was m jb 
disgusted j because, to say the truth, a very offensive sm ii 
came from ‘heir skins ; which I do not mention or intend ; 
the disadvantages of those excellent ladies, for whom I hjtve 
all manner of respect ; but I conceive that my sense was m< 
acute in proportion to my littleness, and that those illustrious 
persons were no more disagreeable to their lovers, or to 
each other, than people of the same quality are with us in 
England. And after all, I found their natural smell was much 
more supportable than when they used perfumes, under which 
I immediately swooned away. I cannot forget, that an intimate 
friend of mine in Lilliput took the freedom in a warm day, 
when I had used a good deal of exercise, to complain of a 


* Swift attributed his disappointment in his hopes of obtaining a bishopric from 
Queen Anne to the united influence of female intrigues and the remonstrances of 
Archbishop Sharpe. The Duchess of Somerset is said to have besought the queen 
on her knees not to grant him promotion, in revenge for a bitter lampoon, in which 
the character of the duchess was very roughly handled. Coarse as is the description 
here given of the maids of honour in the court of Brobdingnag, there is reason 1 4 
believe thu. • softened dewn from the original sketch. 


iiiV 


TRAVELS. 


uuL.n ~ — 

strong smell about me, although I am as little faulty that way 
is most of my sex ; but I suppose his faculty of smelling was 
is nice with regard to me, as mine was to that of this people. 
Jpon this point I cannot forbear doing, justice to the queen 
ny mistress, and Glumdalclitch my nurse, whose persons were 
is sweet as those of any lady in England. 

That which gave me most uneasiness among these maids 
)f honour (when my nurse carried me to visit them) was, to 
ee them use me without any manner of ceremony, like a 
creature who had no sort of concupiscence ; for they would 
strip themselves to the skin, and put their smocks on in my 
presence, while I was placed on their toilet, directly before 
tbeir naked bodies, which I am sure to me was very far from 
being a tempting sight, or from giving me any other emotions 
than those of horror and disgust ; their skins appeared so 
coarse and uneven, so variously coloured, when I saw them 
near, with a mole here and there as broad as a trencher, and 
hairs hangingfrom it thicker than packthreads, to say nothing 
arther concerning the rest of their persons. Neither did 
hey at all scruple, while I was by, to discharge what 
they had drank, to the quantity of at least two hogsheads, in 
a vessel that held above three tons. The handsomest among 
these maids of honour, a pleasant frolicksome girl of sixteen, 
would sometimes set me astride upon one of her nipples, with 
many other tricks, wherein the reader will excuse me for not 
being over particular. But I was so much displeased, that I 
entreated Glumdalclitch to contrive some excuse for not see- 
ing that young lady any more. 

One day, a young gentleman, who was nephew to my 
nurse’s governess, came and pressed them both to see an 
execution. It was of a man, who had murdered one of that 
gentleman’s intimate acquaintance. Glumdalclitch was pre- 
vailed on to be of the company, very much against her 
i,M .. for she was naturally tender-hearted ; and as for 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINO.IAQ 

myself, although I abhorred such kind * i -y;. 
curiosity tempted me to see something that I thought must 
be extraordinary. The malefactor was fixed on a chair upon 
a scaffold erected for that purpose, and his head cut off at one 
blow, with a sword of about forty feet long. The veins and 
arteries spouted up such a prodigious quantity of blood, and 
so high in the air, that the great jet d'eau at Versailles was 
not equal* for the time it lasted ; and the head, when it fell 
on the scaffold floor, gave such a bounce as made me start, 
although I were at least half an English mile distant. 

The queen who often used to hear me talk of my 
voyages, and took all occasions to divert me when I 
melancholy, asked me whether I understood how to hand 
sail or an oar, and whether a little exercise of rowing mi lit 
not be convenient for my health ? I answered that I uneer 
stood both very well: for although my proper employment 
had been to be surgeon or doctor to the ship, yet often, uj > 
a pinch, I was forced to work like a common mariner. K-v 
I could not see how this could be done in their couni i » 
where the smallest wherry was equal to a first-rate man- 
war among us ; and such a boat as I could manage woi 
never live in any of their rivers. Her majesty said, “ I: . 
would contrive a boat, her own joiner should make it, z 
she would provide a place for me to sail in.” The fellow \ • 

an ingenious workman, and by instructions, in ten da 
finished a pleasure boat, with all its tackling, able oonvenien 
to hold eight Europeans. When it was finished, (be que 
was so delighted, that she ran with it in her lap, to the kir 
who ordered it to be put into a cistern full of water, with i 
in it, by way of trial; where I could not manage my tv ■ 
skulls, or little oars, for want of room. But the queen h. 
before contrived another project. She ordered the joiner 
make a wooden trough of three hundred feet long, fifty broad 


* It should be — “ was nol equal to it,*’ etc.” — Sheridan. 


222 GULLIVER* S TRAVELS 

and eight deep : which being well pitched to prevent leaking, 
was placed on the floor along the wall, in an outer room of 
the palace. It had a cock- near the bottom to let out the 
water, when it jegan to grow stale; and two servants could 
easily fill it in half an hour. Here I often used to row for 
my own diversion, as well as that of the queen and her ladies, 
who thought themselves well entertained with my skill and 
agility. Sometimes I would put up my sail, and then my 
business was only to steer, while the ladies gave me a gale 
vith their fans ; and when they were weary, some of their 
oages would blow my sail forward with their breath, while I 
bowed my art by steering starboard or larboard as I pleased. 
vVhen I had done, Glumdalclitch always carried back my 
>oat into her closet, and hung it on a nail to dry. 

In this exercise I once met an accident, which had like to 
iave cost me my life ; for, one of the pages having put my 
>oat into the trough, the governess who attended Glumdal- 
litch very officiously lifted me up, to place me in the boat ; 
>ut I happened to slip through her fingers, and should infal- 
.bly have fallen down forty feet, upon the floor, if, by the 
1 lckiest chance in the world, I had not been stopped by a 
i orking-pin that stuck in the good gentlewoman’s stomacher ; 
ie head of the pin passed between ray shirt and the waist- 
and of my breeches, and thus I was held by the middle in 
ie air, till Glumdalclitch ran to my relief. 

Another time, one of the servants, whose office it was to 
11 my trough every third day with fresh water, was so care- 
less* to let a huge frog (not perceiving it) slip out of his pail, 
s he frog lay concealed till I was put into my boat, but then, 
■ ;eing a resting-place, climbed up, and made it lean so much 
on one side, that I was forced to balance it with all my 
v eight on the other to prevent overturning. When the frog 
v as got in, it hopped at once half the length of the boat, and 

* It should be — “ was so careless as to let.'*— Sheridan. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDING N Aii, 

then over my head, backward and forward, daubing my face 
and clothes with its odious slime. The largeness of its features 
made it appear the most deformed animal that can be con- 
ceived. However, I desired Glumdalclitch to let me deal 
with it alone. I banged it a good while with one of my 
sculls, and at last forced it to leap out of the boat. 

But the greatest danger I underwent in that kingdom, was 
from a monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of the 
kitchen. Glumdalclitch had locked me up in her closet, while 
she went somewhere upon business, or a visit. The weather 
being very warm, the closet window was left open, as well £ ^ 
the window? and the door of my bigger box, in which I usually 
lived, because of its largeness and conveniency. As I sj : 
quietly meditating at my table, I heard something bounce in 
at the closet-window, and skip about from one side to the 
other; whereat, although I was much alarmed, yet I ventured 
to look out, but not stirring from my seat ; and then I saw 
this frolicsome animal frisking and leaping up and down til! 
at last he came to my box, which he seemed to view with 
great pleasure and curiosity, peeping in at the door and every 
window. I retreated to the farther corner of my room, or 
box ; but the monkey looking in at every side, put me into 
such a fright, that I wanted presence of mind to conceal 
myself under the bed, as I might easily have done. After 
some time spent in peeping, grinning, and chattering, he ai, 
last espied me ; and reaching one of his paws in at the door, 
as a cat does when she plays with a mouse, although I often 
shifted place to avoid him, he at length seized the lappet of 
my coat (which being made of that country silk, was very 
thick an 1 strong), and dragged me out. He took me up in 
his righ' fore-foot, and held me as a nurse does a child she is 
going tr suckle just as I have seen the same sort of creature 
do with a kitten in Europe ; and when I offered to struggle, 
he sque sed me so hard, that I thought it more p m lent to 


224 gulliver’s travels. 

submit. I have good reason to believe that he took me for 
a young one of his own - species, by his often stroking my face 
very gently with his other paw. In these diversions he was 
interrupted by a noise at the closet door, as if somebody were 
opening it ; whereupon he suddenly leaped up to the window, 
at which he had come in, and thence upon the leads and 
gutters, walking upon three legs, and holding me in the 
fourth, till he clambered up to a roof that was next to ours. 
I heard Glumdalclitch give a shriek the moment he was 
carrying me out. The poor girl was almost distracted ; that 
quarter of the palace was all in an uproar ; the servants ran 
for ladders ; the monkey was seen by hundreds in the court, 
sitting upon the ridge of a building, holding me like a baby 
in one of his fore-paws, and feeding me with the other, by 
cramming into my mouth some victuals he had squeezed out 
of the bag on one side of his chaps, and patting me when 1 
would not eat ; whereat many of the rabble below could not 
forbear laughing ; neither do I think they justly ought to be 
blamed, for, without question, the sight was ridiculous enough 
to everybody but myself. Some of the people threw up 
stones, hoping to drive the monkey down ; but this was 
strictly forbidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been 
dashed out. 

The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several 
men ; which the monkey observing, and finding himself almost 
encompassed, not being able to make speed enough with his 
three legs, let me drop on a ridge tile, and made his escape. 
Here I sat for some time, five hundred yards from the ground, 
expecting every moment to be blown down by the wind, or to 
fall by my own giddiness, and come tumbling over and over 
from the ridge to the eaves : but an honest lad, one of my 
nurse’s footmen, climbed up, and putting me into his breeches- 
pocket, brought me down safe. 

I was almost choked with the filthy stuff the monkey had 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG . 225 


crammed down my throat , but my dear little nurse picked it 
out of my mouth with a small needle, and then I fell a vomiting, 
which gave me great relief. Yet I was so weak and bruised 
in the side with the squeezes given me by this odious- animal, 
that I was forced to keep my bed a fortnight. The king, 
queen, and all the court, sent every day to inquire after my 
health; and her majesty made me several visits during my 
sickness. The monkey was killed, and an order made that no 
such animal should be kept about the palace. 

When I attended the king after my recovery, to return hi 
thanks for his favours, he was pleased to rally me a good de. 
upon this adventure. He asked me, “ what my thoughts an : 
speculations were while I lay in the monkey’s paw ? how 
liked the victuals he gave me ? his manner of feeding ? an! 
whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach ? 
He desired to know “ what I would have done upon such an 
occasion in my own country?” I told his majesty, “ that in 
Europe we had no monkeys except such as were brought for 
curiosities from other places, and so small that I could dea. 
with a dozen of them together, if they presumed to attack me. 
And as for that monstrous animal, with whom I was so lately 
engaged (it was indeed as large as an elephant), if my fears 
had suffered me to think so far as to make use of my hanger 
(looking fiercely, and clapping my hand upon the hilt, as I 
spoke) when he poked his paw into my chamber, peihaps I 
should have given him such a wound, as would have made 
him glad to withdraw it, with more haste than he put it in ” 
This I delivered in a fibm tone, like a person who was jealous 
lest his courage should be called in question. However, my 
speech produced nothing else beside a loud laughter, which all 
the respect due to his majesty from those about him could 
not make them contain. This made me reflect how vain an 
attempt it is for a man to endeavour to do himself honour 
among those who are out of all degree of equality or compar- 

10 * 


326 


GULLIVER 8 TRAVELS. 


ison with him. And yet I have seen the mopal of my own 
behaviour very frequent in England since my return ; where 
a little contemptible varlet, without the least title to birth, 
person, wit, or common sense, shall presume to look with 
importance, and put himself upon a foot with the greatest 
persons of the kingdom. 

I was every day furnishing the court with some ridiculous 
story ; and Glumdalclitch, although she loved me to excess, 
yet was arch enough to inform the queen, whenever I com- 
mitted any folly that she thought would be diverting to her 
majesty. The girl who had been out of order, was carried by 
her governess to take the air about an hour’s distance, or 
thirty miles from town. They alighted out of the coach 
near a small footpath in a field, and Glumdalclitch setting 
down my travelling box, I went out of it to walk . \ There was 
a cow-dung in the path, and I must need try my activity by 
attempting to leap over it. I took a run, but unfortunately 
jumped short, and found myself just in the middle, up to my 
vnees. I waded through with some difficulty, and one of the 
hotinen wiped me as clean as he could with his handkerchief, 
:or I was filthily bemired ; and my nurse confined me to my 
" ox, till we returned hofne; where the queen was soon 
informed of what had passed, and the footmen spread it 
a : ^out the court : so that all the mirth for some days was at 
my expense. 


< 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDING K AG. 227 


CHAPTER VI. 


Several contrivances cf the author to please the king and queen— He shows his skill 
in music — The king inquires into <he state of England, which the author relates to 
him — The king’s observations thereon. 

Joined as I was to the court, I used to attend the king’s 
levee, once or twice a week, and had often seen him under 
the barber’s hand, which indeed was at first very terrible to 
behold ; for the razor was almost twice as long as an ordinary 
scythe. His majesty, according to the custom of the country, 
was only shaved twice a-week. I once prevailed on the barber 
to give me some of the suds or lather, out of which I picked 
forty or fifty of the strongest stumps of hair. I then took a 
piece of fine wood, and cut it like the back of a comb, making 
several holes in it at equal distances, with as small a needle 
as I could get from Glumdalclitoh. I fixed in the stumps so 
artificially, scraping and sloping them with my knife towards 
the points, that I made a very tolerable comb ; which was a 
seasonable supply, my own being so much broken in the teeth 
that it was almost useless ; neither did I know any artist in 
that country so nice and exact, as would undertake to make 
me another. 

And this puts me in mind of an amusement, wherein I 
spent many of my leisure hours. I desired the queen’s woman 
to save me some of the combings of her majesty’s hair, 
whereof in time I got a good quantity ; and consulting with 
my friend the cabinet-maker, who had received general orders 


Gulliver’s travels. 

to do li tJ bt for me, I directed him to make two chaii 
frames, no larger than those I had in my box, and to bore 
little holes with a fine awl, round those parts where I designea 
the backs and seats : through these holes I wove the strongest 
hairs I could pick out, just after the manner of cane chairs in 
England. When they were finished, I made a present of them 
to her majesty, who kept them in her cabinet, and used to 
show them for curiosities, as indeed they were the wonder of 
every one that beheld them. ;The queen would have me sit 
upon one of these chairs, but I absolutely refused to obey her, 
protesting I would rather die a thousand deaths, than place a 
dishonourable part of my body on those precious hairs that 
once adorned her majesty’s head.. Of these hairs (as I had 
always a mechanical genius) I likewise made a neat little 
purse, about five feet long, with her majesty’s name deciphered 
in gold letters, which I gave to Glumdalclitch by the queen’s 
consent. To say the truth it was more for show than use, 
being not of strength to bear the weight of the larger coins, 
and therefore she kept nothing in it but some little toys that 
girls are fond of. 

The king, who delighted in music, had frequent concerts at 
court, to which I was sometimes carried, and set in my box 
on the table to hear them ; but the noise was so great that I 
could hardly distinguish the tunes. I am confident that all 
the drums and trumpets of the royal army, beating and sound- 
ing together just at your ears, could not equal it. My practice 
was to have my box removed from the place where the per- 
formers sat, as far as I could, then to shut the doors and 
windows of it, and draw the window curtains, after which I 
found their music not disagreeable. 

I had learned in my youth to play a little upon the spinet 
Glumdalclitch kept one in her chamber, and a master attended 
twice a-week to teach her : I called it a spinet, because it 
somewhat resembled that instrument, and was played upon in 


A. VOYAGE TO BKOBDINGN \ . 2;>9 

the same manner. A fancy came into my head that I 
entertain the king and queen with English tune upon this 
instrument. But this appeared extremely difficult : for the 
spinet was near sixty feet long, each key being almost a foot 
wide, so that with my arms extended I could not reach to 
above five keys, and to press them down required a good 
smart stroke with my fist, which would be too great a labour, 
and to no purpose. The method I contrived was this : I pre- 
pared two round sticks, about the bigness of common cudgels ; 
they were thicker at one end than the other, and I covered 
the thicker ends with pieces of a mouse’s skin, that by 
rapping on them I might neither damage the tops of the keys 
nor interrupt the sound. \ Before the spinet a bench was 
placed, about four feet below the keys and I was put upon the 
bench. I ran sidelong upon it, that way and this, as fast as I 
could, banging the proper keys with my two sticks, and made 
a shift to play a jig, to the great satisfaction of both their 
majesties ; but it was the most violent exercise I ever under- 
went ; and yet T could not strike above sixteen keys, nor 
consequently, play the bass and treble together, as other artists 
do ; which was a great disadvantage to my performance. 

The king, who, as I before observed, was a prince of 
excellent understanding, would frequently order that I should 
be brought in my box, and set upon the table in his closet ; 
he would then command me to bring one of my chairs out of 
the box, and sit down within three yards’ distance, upon the 
top of the cabinet, which brought me almost to a level with 
his face. In this manner I had several conversations with 
him. I one day took the freedom to tell his majesty, “ that 
the contempt he discovered towards Europe, and the rest of 
the world, did not seem answerable to those excellent qualities 
of mind that he was master of ; that reason did not extend 
itself within the bulk of the body ; on the contrary, we 
observed in our country, that the tallest persons were usually 


230 


gulliyeb’s travels. 


the least provided with it; that among other animals, bees 
and ants had the reputation of more industry, art, and sagacity, 
than many of the larger kinds; and that, as inconsiderable 
as ho took me to be, I hoped I might live to do his majestv 
>oine signal service.” The king heard me with attention, and 
began to conceive a much better opinion of me than he had 
ever before. He desired “I would give him as exact an 
account of the government of England as I possibly could ; 
because, as fond as princes commonly are of their own cus- 
toms (for so he conjectured of other monarchs by my former 
discourses), he should be glad to hear of any thing that might 
deserve imitation.” 

Imagine with thyself, courteous reader, how often I then 
wished for the tongue of Demosthenes or Cicero, that might 
have enabled me to celebrate the praise of my own dear native 
country, in a style equal to its merits and felicity. 

I began my discourse by informing his majesty, that our 
dominions consisted of two islands, which composed three 
mighty kingdoms under one sovereign, besides our plantations 
in America. I dwelt long under the fertility of our soil, and 
the temperature of our climate. I then spoke at large upon 
the constitution of an English parliament ; partly made up of 
an illustrious body, called the House of Peers; persons of the 
noblest blood, and of the most ancient and ample patrimonies. 
I described that extraordinary care always taken of their 
education in arts and arras, to qualify them for being counsel- 
lors both to the king and kingdom ; to have a share in the 
legislature ; to be members of the highest court of judicature, 
whence there can be no appeal ; and to be champions always 
ready for the defence of their prince and country, by their 
valour, conduct, and fidelity. That these were the ornament 
and bulwark of the kingdom, worthy followers of their most 
renowned ancestors, whose honour had been the reward of 
their virtue, from which their posterity were never once known 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDIKGN AG. 231 


to degenerate. To these were joir | ral holy persons, as 
part of that assembly, under the title of bishops, whose peculiar 
business it is to take care of i g :u;d n o.-- vvh<» instruct 
the people therein. These were searched and sought out 
through the whole nation, by the prince and his wisest coun- 
sellors, among such of the priesthood as were most deservedly 
distinguished by the sanctity of their life, and the depth of 
their erudition ; who were indeed the spiritual fathers of the 
clergy and the people.* 

That the* other part of the parliament consisted of an 
assembly, called the House of Commons, who were all princi- 
pal gentlemen, freely picked and culled out by the people 
themselves, for their great abilities and love of their country, to 
represent the wisdom of the whole nation. And that these 
two bodies made up the most august assembly in Europe, to 

* The doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance, so strenuously main- 
tained by many eminent English divines, rendered the church an object of suspicion 
to the several whig cabinets, and 'ministerial patronage was exerted to weaken the 
political influence of the church by promoting persons not likely to maintain the 
claims of ecclesiastical power. Not only Swift, but many others complained that 
the church was betrayed by the state, and that the secular power was directly 
exerted to overthrow episcopal authority. Bishop Warburton, in one of his letters, 
urges this complaint with his usual force, vulgarity, and' mannerism ; the passage 
is also remarkable for a Brobdingnagian image worthy of Swift himself. “You 
mention Noah’s ark. I have really forgot what I said of it. But I suppose I com- 
pared it to the church, as many a grave divine has done before me. The rabbins 
make the giant Gog or Magog cotemporary with Noah, and convinced by his 
preaching; so that he was disposed to take the benefit of the ark. But here lay 
the distress ; it by no means suited his dimensions. Therefore, as he could not 
enter in, he contented himself to ride upon it astride. And though you must sup- 
pose, that in that stormy weather he was more than half boots over, he kept hia 
seat, and dismounted safely when the ark landed on Mount Ararat. Image now to 
yourself this illustrious cavalier mounted on his hackney ; and see if it does not bring 
before you the church bestrid by some lumpish minister of state, who turns and 
winds it at his pleasure. The only difference is, that Gog believed the preacher of 
righteousness and religion.” 

The former comparison of the church to the ark, which Warburton’s correspond- 
ent appears to have noticed, is not less characteristic. “ The church, like the ark 
of Noah, is worth saving, not for the sake of the unclean beasts and vermin that 
almost filled it, and probably made most noise and clamour in it, but for the little 
corner of rationality, that was as mucl. distressed by the stink within as by the 
tempest without.” 


a 32 


OCILITEU'S T V E L S . 

whom, in conjunction with the prince, fhe whole legislature is 
commit ed 

I then descended to the courts of justice; over which the 
judges, those venerable sages and interpreters of the law, 
presided, for determining the disputed rights and properties 
of men, as well as for the punishment of vice and protection 
of innocence. I mentioned the prudent management of our 
treasury ; the valour and achievements of our forces, by sea and 
land. I computed the number of our people, by reckoning 
how many millions there might be of each religious sect, or 
political party among us. I did not omit even our sports and 
pastimes, or any other particular which I thought might 
redound to the honour of my country. And I finished all 
with a brief historical account of affairs and events in England 
for about a hundred years past. 

This conversation was not ended under five audiences, each 
of several hours ; and the king heard the whole with great 
attention, frequently taking notes of what I spoke, as well as 
memorandums of what questions he intended to ask me. 

When I had put an end to these long discourses, his 
majesty, in a sixth audience, consulting his notes, proposed 
many doubts, queries, and objections, upon every article. He 
asked, “ what methods were used to cultivate the minds and 
bodies of our young nobility, and in what kind of business 
they commonly spent the first and teachable part of their 
lives ? What course was taken to supply that assembly, when 
any noble family became extinct ? What qualifications were 
necessary in those who are to be created new lords : whether 
the humour of a prince, a sum of money to a court lady, or a 
design of strengthening a party opposite to the public interest, 
ever happened to be the motives in those advancements ?* 

* A. bill for the Limitation of the Peerage was passed by the House of Lords in 1719 ; 
but after a long debate, was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the Commons. 
On this occasion, the tories joined with that section of the whigs which recognized 
Walpole as a leader. Swift unconsciously has adopted a portion of the reasoning of 
his great enemy. 


4 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


233 


Wliat share of knowledge these lords had in the laws of their 
country, and how they came by it, so as to enable tn c m to 
decide the properties of their fellow-subjects in the last resort* 
Whether they were always so free from avarice, partialities, 
or want, that a bribe, or some other sinister view, could have 
no place among them ? Whether those holy lords I spoke of 
were always promoted to that rank upon account of their 
knowledge in religious matters, and the sanctity of their lives ; 
had never been compilers with the times, while they were 
common priests; or slavish prostitute chaplains to some noble- 
man, whose opinions they continued servilely to follow, after 
they were admitted into that assembly ?” * 

♦Swift very frequently assailed the Irish bench of bishops, asserting that they 
were ignorant of the creed of their own church, in one of these attacks on the epis* 
copal body, he says, — 

Of whom there are not four at most 
Who know there is an Holy Ghost; 

And when they boast they have conferr’d it, 

Like Paul’s Ephesians, never heard it ; 

And when they gave it ’tis well known, 

They gave what never was their own. 

In another political squib, we find the following bitter lines, — 

Let prelates by their good behaviour, 

Convince us they believe a Saviour; 

Nor sell, what they so dearly bought, 

This country nor their own, for nought. 

The Bishop of Kilkenny was particularly obnoxious to the Dean, and bears the 
brunt of Swift’s fierce attack on the Irish bench, for proposing to divide the church 
livings. 

Old Latimer, preaching, did fairly describe 
A bishop, who ruled all the rest of his tribe: 

And who is this bishop? and where did he dwell? 

Why, truly, ’tis Satan, Archbishop of Hell : 

And he was a primate, and he wore a mitre, 

Surrounded with jewels of sulphur and nitre. 

IIow nearly this bishop our bishops resembles ! 

But he has the odds who believes and who trembles. 

Could you see his Grim Grace for a pound to a penny 
You'd swear it must be the baboon of Kilkenny: 


234 


TRAVELS 


gulliver’ t 

He then desired to know, “ what arts were practised in 
electing those whom I called commoners ; whether a stranger 
with a strong purse, might not influence the vulgar voters to 
choose him before their own landlord, or the most consider- 
able gentleman in the neighbourhood ? How it came to pass, 
that people were so violently bent upon getting into this 
assembly, which I allowed to be a great trouble and expense, 
often to the ruin of their families, without any salary oi 
pension ; because this appeared such an exalted strain of virtue 
and public spirit, that his majesty seemed to doubt it might 
possibly not be always sincere V’ * And he desired to know, 

Poor Satan will think the comparison odious ; 

I wish I could find him out one more commodious. 

But this I am sure, the- most reverend old dragon 
Had got on the bench many bishops suffragan ; 

And all men believe he resides there incog, 

To give them by turns an invisible jog. 

* Considerable excitement was produced by Sir John Cope having charged Sir 
Francis Page, one of the barons of the Exchequer, with endeavouring to corrupt the 
borough of Banbury, in order to secure the return of Sir William Codrington, at the 
next election. The charge was heard at the bar of the House of Commons, and 
though the ministers of the day exerted all their influence to shield the judge, he was 
acquitted by a majority of four only, the numbers being 128 to 124. A bill for secui - 
ing the Freedom of Elections was about the same time rejected by the House of 
Lords, through the influence of the ministers, who had failed to strangle it in the 
Commons. This afforded the tories an opportunity of representing themselves as the 
friends and the whigs as the enemies of constitutional liberty, which they were too 
wise to neglect. During the debate in the Commons, Mr. Hutcheson, member for 
Hastings, used the following language, which seems to have suggested the king of * 
Brodingnag’s queries to Swift. “But what in God’s name can all this tend to? 
What other construction can any man in common sense put upon all these things, 
but that there seems to have been a grand design of violence and oppression, first 
to humble you, and make your necks pliable to the yoke, and then to finish the work 
by tempting the poverty and necessities of the people to sell themselves into the 
most abject and detestable slavery, for that very money which had been either 
unnecessarily raised, or mercilessly and unjustly plundered and torn from iheir 
very bowels. And thus you may be in a fair way of being beaten by your own 
weapons. Nor can I imagine what inducement men have who run from borough ta 
borough, and purchase their elections at such extravagant rates, unless it be from 
a strong expectation of being well paid for their votes, and of receiving ample 
recompense and reward for the secret service they have covenanted to perform 
here .... It were very much to be wished, that gentlemen of estates and 
families In the country would heartily unite in this particular, of keeping the elec- 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 235 


* whether such zealous gentlemen could have any views of 
refunding themselves for the charges and trouble they were 
at, by sacrficing the public good to the designs of a weak and 
vicious prince, in conjunction with a corrupted ministry ?” 
He multiplied his questions, and sifted me thoroughly upon 
every part of this head, proposing numberless inquiries and 
objections, which I think it not prudent or convenient to 
repeat. 

Upon what I said in relation to our courts of justice his 
majesty desired to be satisfied in several points : and this I 
was better able to do, having been formerly almost ruined by 
a long suit in chancery, which was decreed for me with costs. 
He asked, “ what time was usually spent in determining 
between right and wrong, and what degree of expense? 
Whether advocates and orators had liberty to plead in causes 
manifestly known to be unjust, vexatious, or oppressive ? 
Whother party, in religion or politics, were observed to be of 
any weight in the scale of justice ? Whether those pleading 
orators were persons educated in the general knowledge of 
equity, or only in provincial, national, and other local customs ? 
Whether they or their judges had any part in penning those 
laws, which they assumed the liberty of interpreting, and 
glossing upon at their pleasure ? Whether they had ever, at 
different times, pleaded for and against the same cause, and 
cited precedents to prove contrary opinions ? Whether they 
were a rich or a poor corporation ? Whether they received 
any pecuniary reward for pleading, or delivering their 


tions in the several counties among themselves ; that they would resolve inviolably 
to support each other’s interests against the encroachments and corrupt applications 
of strangers, let them come from what quarter they will. If this were done, it 
would in a great measure put an end to those dangerous and infamous practices 
that are now on foot, and we might hope once more to see this House filled with 
gentlemen of free and independent fortunes such as would be above making theif 
court any where at the expense of their coantry, and would despise all manner o. 
slavish concessions to men in power.” 


236 


Gulliver’s travels. 

opinions? And particularly, whether they were evei admit- 
ted as members in the lower senate ?”* 

He fell next upon the management of our treasury ; and 
said, “ he thought my memory had failed me because I com- 
puted our taxes at about five or six millions a year, and when 
they came to mention the issues, he found they sometimes 
amounted to more than double ; for the notes he had taken 
were very particular in this point, because he hoped, as he 
told me, that the knowledge of our conduct might be useful 
to him, and he could not be deceived in his calculations.! 
But, if what I told him were true, he was still at a loss how 
a kingdom could run out of its estate, like a private person.” 
He asked me “ who were our creditors ; and where we found 
money to pay them ? He wondered to hear me talk of such 
chargeable and expensive wars ; “ that certainly we must be 
a quarrelsome people, or live among very bad neighbours, and 
that our generals must needs be richer than our kings !” He 

* In the session of 1S20, Sir William Thompson, solicitor-general, charged Mr. 
Lechmere, attorney-general, with breach of his oath, trust, and duty, as a privy 
councillor, saying that he acted as counsel, and received sums of money for his 
advice in matters to him referred by the the privy council as attorney-general. The 
charge was investigated by a committee of the whole House; it appeared that 
Mr. Lechmere had taken nothing but his usual fees as chamber counsellor, and 
the accusation was declared by the House to be false, scandalous and malicious. 
The lawyers of Swift’s day were for the most part whigs, and strongly attached to the 
Protestant succession; they were on this account particularly odious to the Jacob- 
ites, and when individual satire failed, bitter attacks were made on the entire legal 
profession. It must, however, be added, that the whig lawyers were too ready to 
extend the dangerous principle of constructive treason, and far too ardent in their 
prosecutions for libel. Swift was particularly hostile to lawyers on account of the 
vexatious prosecutions undertaken against the printers and publishers of the 
Drapier’s Letters, and he never omits an opportunity of venting his indignation. 

t The National Debt was first incurred by the whig administrations in the reigna 
of William III. and Queen Anne, when the ordinary revenue was found inadequate 
to the expenses of the great wars against France. It was a favourite topic of decla- 
mation with their tory opponents, and was not the least efficacious in depriving the 
whigs of their popularity. In 1722, the tories proposed the following resolution in 
the Lords. “ That the lessening the public debt annually by all proper methods is 
necessary to the restoring and securing the public credit.” The previous question 
was carried; upon which, a spirited protest was entered in the Journals, and 
copies of it industriously circulated through the country. 


A VOYAGE TO B R O B D I N G > 


237 


asked “ what business we bad out of our o !•■ iru 1 - tt\io c s 
upon the score of trade or treaty, or to defend he '-oast v 
our fleet?” Above all, he was amazed to hear m talk ; 
mercenary standing army, in the midst of peace and a :r a 

free people. He said, “if we were governed by our own c . 
sent, in the persons of our representatives, he could not 
imagine of whom we were afraid or against whom we were to 
fight ; and would hear my opinion, whether a private man’s 
house might not better be defended by himself, his children 
and his family, than by half a dozen rascals, picked up at 
a venture in the streets for small wages, who might get a hun- 
dred times more by cutting their throats?”* 

He laughed at my “ odd kind of arithmetic,” as he was 
pleased to call it, “ in reckoning the numbers of our people by 
a computation drawn from the several sects among us in reli- 
gion and politics.” He said “ he knew no reason why those, 
who entertain opinions prejudicial to the public, should be 
obliged to change, or should not be obliged to conceal them. 
And as it was tyranny in any government to require the 
first, so it was weakness not to enforce the second : for a man 
may be allowed to keep poisons in his closet, but not to 
vend them about for cordials.”]- 


* One of the most memorable debates in the reign of George I. was on the grant 
for maintaining a standing army of sixteen thousand men. Mr. Shippen and Mr. 
Jeffries resisted the proposal with great energy, and the former used such severity 
of language that he was committed to the Tower. The tories, both on this question 
and on the Debt, had a decided advantage in argument over their adversaries, espe- 
cially as they could appeal to a parliamentary resolution in the reign of Charles II., 
which declared, “That the continuance of standing forces in this nation, other 
than the militia, is illegal, and a great grievance and vexation to the people.” Mr. 
Shippen, in his speech, perplexed the whigs by referring to their own recorded 
principles. “ It is,” said he, “ every year declared in the Act of Mutiny and Deser- 
tion, that the keeping up a standing army in time of peace, is against law ; and as 
the freeing us from it was one of the ends of the revolution, so, no doubt, the preser- 
ving us for ever from an attempt of the like nature, was one of those innumerable 
glorious advantages proposed by the Act of Succession. 

t It is not easy to reconcile these intolerant sentiments with the opinions on tole- 
ration already noticed in the voyage to Lilliput. There was at this time reason to 
fear that the Presbyterians would obtax the ascendency in the Irish parliament, and 


Gulliver’s ieavels. 

lie observed, “ that among the diversions of our nobility 
and genuv. I bad mentioned gaming; he desired to ‘know at 
whaL age this entertainment was usually taken up, and when it 
was laid down; how much of their time it employed ; whether 
it ever went so high as to affect their fortunes ; whether mean, 
vicious people by their dexterity in that art, might not arrive 
at great riches, and sometimes keep our very nobles in 
dependence, as well as habituate them to vile companions ; 
wholly take from them the improvement of their minds, and 
force them, by the losses they received,* to learn and practise 
that infamous dexterity upon others ?” 

He was perfectly astonished with the historical account I 
gave him of our affairs during the last century ; protesting it 
was only a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, 
revolutions, banishments, the very worst effects that avarice, 
faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousness, cruelty, rage, madness, 
hatred, envy, lust, malice, and ambition could produce. 

His majesty, in another audience, was at the pains to recap- 
itulate the sum of all I had spoken ; compared the questions 
he made with the answers I had given ; then taking me into 
his hands, and stroking me gently, delivered himself in these 
words, which I shall never forget, nor the manner he spoke 
them in : “ My little friend Grildrig, you have made a most 
admirable panegyric upon your country; you have clearly 
proved that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingre- 
dients for qualifying a legislator ; that laws are best explained, 
interpreted and applied, by those whose interests and abilities 
lie in perverting, confounding and eluding them. I observe 
among you some lines of an institution, which in its original 
might have been tolerable, but these half erased, and the rest 

abolish episcopacy; hence probably arises Swift’s bitterness against sectaries, 
which is very strongly manifested here, and in his celebrated Letter on the Sacra- 
mental Test. 

* Receiving a loss, is certainly not a good expression ; it should be, “ the losses 
they have sustained.” — Sheridan. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 

wholly blurred and blotted by corruptions. It does not 
appear, from all you have said, bow any one perfection is 
required toward the procurement of any one station among 
you ; much less that men are ennobled on account of their 
virtue; that priests are advanced for their piety o?- 1 lining ; 
soldiers for their conduct or valour; judges fort integ- 
rity; senators for the love of- their country; or counsellors 
for their wisdom. As for yourself,” continued the king, 
“ who have spent the greatest part of your life in travelling, I 
am well disposed to hope you may hitherto have escaped 
many vices of your country. But by what I have gathered 
from your own relation, and the answers I have with much 
pains wringed* and extorted from you, I cannot but conclude 
the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of 
little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon 
the surface of the earth.” 

♦ Instead of “ wringed ” it should hare been “ wrung.”— Sheridan. 


CHAPTER VII. 


Fht l ' r ; ve of his country — He makes a proposal of much advantage to the 
king, which is rejected— Tlie king’s great ignorance in politics — The learning of 
that country very imperfect and confined — The laws and military affairs, and 
parties in the state. 


Love of truth could alone have hindered me from conceal- 
ing this part of my story. It was in vain to discover my 
resentments, which were always turned into ridicule ; and I 
was forced to rest with patience, while my noble and beloved 
country was so injuriously treated. I am as heartily sorry 
as any of my readers can possibly be, that such an occasion 
was given ; but this prince happened to be so curious and 
inquisitive upon every particular, that it could not consist 
either with gratitude or good manners, to refuse giving him 
what satisfaction I was able. Yet thus much I may be 
allowed to say in my own vindication, that I artfully eluded 
many of his questions, and gave to every point a more favour- 
able turn, by many degrees, than the strictness o" truh would 
allow. For I have always borne that laudable . r to 
my own country, which Dionysius Halicarnass< sis, with .so 
much justice, recommends to an historian; I would hide die 
frailties and deformities of my political mother, i placed 
virtues and beauties in the most advantageous light. Tin 
was my sincere endeavour in those many discourses 1 had 
with that monarch, although it unfortunate! failed o 
success. 

But great allowances should be given to a king,' w.io liv es 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 

wholly secluded from the rest of the world, and must there- 
fore be altogether unacquainted with the manners and cus- 
toms that most prevail in other nations ; the want of which, 
knowledge will ever produce many prejudices, and a certain 
narrowness of thinking, from which we, and the politer 
countries of Europe, are wholly exempted. And it would be 
hard indeed, if so remote a prince’s notions of virtue and vice 
were to be offered as a standard for all mankind. 

To confirm what I have now r said, and farther to show the 
miserable effects of a confined education, I shall here insert a 
passage, which will hardly obtain belief. In hopes to ingra- 
tiate myself farther into his majesty’s favour, I told him of 
“an invention, discovered between three and four hundred 
years ago, to make a certain powder, into a heap of which, 
the smallest spark of fire falling, would kindle the whole in a 
moment, although it were as big as a mountain, and make it 
all fly up into the air together, with a noise and agitation 
greater than thunder. ' That a proper quantity of this powder 
rammed into a hollow tube of brass or iron, according to its 
bigness, would drive a ball of iron or lead, with such violence 
and speed, as nothing was able to sustain its force. That the 
largest balls thus discharged, would not only destroy whole 
ranks of an army at once, but batter the strongest walls to 
the ground ; sink down ships, with a thousand men in each, 
to the bottom of the sea ; and when linked together by a 
chain would cut through masts and rigging, divide hundreds 
of bodies in the middle, and lay all waste before them. That 
we often put this powder into large hollow balls of iron, and 
discharged them by an engine into some city we were besieg- 
ing, which would rip up theopavements, tear the houses to 
pieces, burst and throw splinters on every side, dashing out 
the brains of all who came near. That I knew the 
ingredients very well, which were cheap and common. 

I understood the manner of compounding them, and could 

11 


242 


Gulliver’s travels. 


direct his workmen how to make those tubes, of a size 
proportionable to all other things in his majesty’s kingdom, 
and the largest need not be above a hundred feet long ; 
twenty or thirty of which tubes, charged with the proper 
quantity of powder and balls, would batter down the walls of 
the strongest town in his dominions in a few hours, or destroy 
the whole metropolis, if ever it should pretend to dispute his 
absolute commands. This I humbly offered to his majesty, 
as a small tribute of acknowledgment, in return of so many 
marks that I had received of his royal favour and protec- 
tion.” 

The king was struck with horror .at the description I had 
given of these terrible engines, and the proposal I had made. 
“ He was amazed, how so impotent and grovelling an insect 
as I” (these were his expressions) “could entertain such 
inhuman ideas, and in so familiar a " manner, as to appear 
wholly unmoved at all the scenes of blood and desolation 
which I had painted, as the common effects of these destruc- 
tive machines: whereof” he said “ some evil genius, enemy to 
mankind, must have been the first contriver. As for himself, 
he protested, that although few things delighted him so much 
as new discoveries in art or in nature, yet he would rather 
lose half his kingdom than be privy to such a secret ; which 
he commanded me, as I valued my life, never to mention 
any more.”* 

A strange effect of narrow principles and views! that a 
prince possessed of every quality which procures veneration, 
love, and esteem ; of strong parts, great wisdom, and profound 
learning ; endowed with admirable talents, and almost adored 

* It is scarcely necessary to expose ttf* fallacious reasoning of this passage, 
every body knows that wars have been far less sanguinary since the invention of 
gunpowder than they were before, and that every improvement in the arts of de 
struction has been followed by a saving of human life. Swift, however, knew that 
the glories of Marlborough’s campaigns were the chief source of the popularity 
of the whigs, and as be could not deny the military merits of these victories, I10 
hoped to weaken their influence by declaiming against wavs in general. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 


*43 


by his subjects, should from a nice unnecessary scruple, 
whereof in Europe we can have no conception, let slip an 
opportunity put into his hands that would have made him 
absolute master of the lives, the liberties, and the fortunes of 
his people.* Neither do I say this, with the least intention 
to detract from the many virtues of that excellent king, whose 
character, I am sensible, will, on this account, be very much 
lessened in the opinion of the English reader ; but I take this 
defect among them to have risen from their ignorance, by not 
having hitherto reduced politics into a science, as the more 
acute wits of Europe have done. For, I remember very well, 
in a discourse one day with the king, when I happened to say, 
“ there were several thousand books among us written upon 
the art of government,” it gave him (directly contrary to my 
intention) a very mean opinion of our understandings. He 
professed both to abominate and to despise all mystery, refine- 
ment, and intrigue, either in a prince or a minister. He 
could not tell what I meant by secrets of state, where an 
enemy, or some rival nation, were not in the case. He 
confined the knowledge of governing within very narrow 
bounds, to common sense and reason, to justice and lenity, to 
the speedy determination of civil and criminal causes ; with 
some other obvious topics, which are not worth considering. 
And he gave it for his opinion, “ that whoever could make 
two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot 
of ground, where only one grew before, would deserve bettei 
of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, 
than the whole race of politicians put together.”! 

* It was more than hinted by the tories, that the House of Brunswick intended 
to make use of the standing army toypibvert British liberty. Mr. Shippen, in the 
speech to which allusion has been already made, said, “ that the second paragraph 
of the king’s speech seemed rather to be calculated for the meridian of Germany 
than Great Britain ; and that the king was a stranger to our language and con- 
stitution.” It was for these expressions that he was committed to the Tower. 

t The tories were always anxious to identify themselves with the agricultural 
interest, to which Swift consequently loses no opportunity of paying a compliment. 


244 


gulliyer’s travels. 


The learning of this people is very defective : consisting 
only of morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein 
they must be allowed to excel. But the last of these is wholly 
applied to what may be useful in life, to the improvement of 
agriculture and all mechanical arts ; so that among us it 
would be little esteemed. And as to ideas, entities, ab- 
stractions, and transcendentals, I could never drive the least 
conception into their heads. 

No law of that country must exceed in words the number 
of letters in their alphabet, which consists only of two-and- 
twenty. But indeed few of them extend even to that length. 
They are expressed in the most plain and simple terms, wherein 
those people are not mercurial enough to discover above one 
interpretation : and to write a comment upon any law, is a 
capital crime. As to the decision of civil causes, or proceed- 
ings against criminals, their precedents are so few, that they 
have little reason to boast of any extraordinary skill in 
either. 

They have had the art of printing, as well as the Chinese, 
time out of mind : but their libraries are not very large ; for 
that of the king, which is reckoned the largest, does not 
amount to above a thousand volumes, placed in a gallery of 
twelve hundred feet long, whence I had liberty to borrow what 
books I pleased. The queen’s joiner had contrived in one of 
Glumdalclitch’s rooms, a kind of wooden machine five-and- 
twenty feet high, formed like a standing ladder ; the steps 
were each fifty feet long ; it was indeed a moveabie pair of 
stairs, the lowest end placed at ten feet distance from the wall 
of the chamber. The book I had a mind to read, was put up 
leaning, against the wall : I first counted to the upper step of 
the ladder, and turning my face towards the book began at 
the top of the page, and so walking to the right and left 
about eight or ten paces, according to the length of the lines, 
till I had gotten a little below the level of mine eyes, and 
then descending gradually till I came to the bottom: after 


A TOY AGE TO BEOBDINGNAG, 245 


which I mounted again, and began the other page in the same 
manner, and so turned over the leaf, which I could easily 
do with both my hands, for it w r as as thick and stiff as a 
pasteboard, and in the largest folios not above eighteen or 
twenty feet long. 

Their style is clear, masculine and smooth, but not florid ; 
for they avoid nothing more than multiplying unnecessary words 
or using various expressions. I have perused many of their 
books, especially those in history and morality. Among the 
rest, I was much diverted with a little old treatise, which 
always lay in Glumdalclitch’s bedchamber, and belonged to 
her governess, a grave elderly gentlewoman, who dealt in 
writings of morality and devotion. The book treats of the 
weakness of human kind, and is in little esteem except among 
the women and the vulgar. However, I was curious to see 
what an author of that country could say upon such a subject. 
This writer went through all the usual topics of European 
moralists, showing “ how diminutive, contemptible, and help- 
less an animal was man in his own nature : how unable to 
defend himself from inclemencies of the air, or the fury of 
wild beasts : how much he was excelled by one creature in 
strength, by another in speed, by a third in foresight, by a 
fourth in industry.” He added, “ that nature was degenerated 
in these latter declining ages of the world, and could now 
produce only small abortive births, in comparison of those 
in ancient times.” He said, “ it was very reasonable to think, 
not only that the species of men were originally much larger, 
but also that there must have been giants in former ages ; 
which, as it is asserted by history and tradition, so it has been 
confirmed by huge bones m and sculls, casually dug up in 
several parts of the kingdom, far exceeding the common 
dwindled race of men in our days.” He argued, that the 
very laws of nature absolutely required we should have been 
made, in the beginning, of a size more large and robust ; not 


246 


Gulliver’s travels. 

so liable to destruction from every little accident, of a tile 
falling from a house, or a stone cast from the hand of a boy, 
or being drowned in a little brook.” From this way of 
reasoning, the author drew several moral applications, useful 
in the conduct of life, but needless here to repeat. For my own 
part, I could not avoid reflecting how universally this talent 
was spread, of drawing lectures in morality, or indeed rather 
matter of discontent and repining, from the quarrels we raise 
with nature. And I believe, upon a strict inquiry, those 
quarrels might be shown as ill-grounded ^mong us as they 
are among that people. 

As to their military affairs, they boast that the king’s army 
consists of a hundred and seventy-six thousand foot, and 
thirty-two thousand horse : if that may be called an army, 
which is made up of tradesmen in the several cities, and 
farmers in the country, whose commanders are only the 
nobility and gentry, without pay or reward. They are indeed 
perfect enough in their exercises, and under very good disci- 
pline, wherein I saw no great merit ; for how should it be 
otherwise, where every farmer is under the command of his 
own landlord, and every citizen under that of the principal 
men in his own city, chosen, after the manner of Venice, by 
ballot ? I have often seen the militia of Lorbrulgrud drawn 
out to exercise, in a great field near the city, of twenty 
miles square. They were in all not above twenty-five thousand 
foot, and six thousand horse ; but it was impossible for me to 
compute their number, considering the space of ground they 
took up. A cavalier mounted on a large steed might be about 
ninety feet high. I have seen this whole body of horse, upon 
a word of command, draw their swords at once, and brandish 
them in the air. Imagination can picture nothing so grand, 
so surpassing, and so astonishing ! it looked as if ten thousand 
flashes of lightning were darting at the same time from every 
quarter of the sky. 


A VOYAGE TO B R O B I) I N G N A G . 


217 


I was curious to knew how this prince, to whose dominions 
there is no access from any orber country, came to think of 
armies, or to teach his people the practice of military discipline* 
But I was soon informed, both by conversai.i ading 

their histories ; for, in the course of many ages, they have 
been troubled with the same disease to which the whole race 
of mankind is subject ; the nobility offen contend \s for power;' 
the people for liberty, and the king for absolute d minion. 
All which, however happily tempered by the laws of that 
kingdom, have been sometimes violated by each of the three 
parties, and have more than once occasioned civil wars ; the 
last whereof was happily put an end to by this prince’s grand- 
father, in a general composition, and the militia then settled 
with common consent, has been ever since kept in the strictest 
duty. 

4 


CHAPTER VIII. 


IT.? king nud queen make a progress to the frontiers — The author attend »uen— 
The .anner in which he leaves the country very particularly related — His v.urn 
t o England. 

Junctures of perilous circumstances, from which I had 
already escaped, inspired me with a strong impulse that I 
should some time recover my liberty, though it was impossi- 
ble to conjecture by what means, or to form any project with 
the least hope of succeeding. The ship in which I sailed was 
the first known to be driven within sight of that coast, and the 
king had given strict orders, “that if at any time another 
appeared, it should be taken ashore, and with all its crew and 
passengers In ought in a tumbril to Lorbrulgrud.” He was 
strongly bent to get me a woman of my own size, by whom. 
I might propagate the breed ; but I think I should rather 
have died than undergone the disgrace of leaving a posterity 
to be kept in cages, like tame canary birds, and perhaps, in 
time, sold about the kingdom, to persons of quality, for curi- 
osities. I was indeed treaty] with much kindness ; I was the 
favourite of a great king and queen, and the delight of the 
whole court ; but it was upon such a foot as ill became the 
dignity of human-kind. I could never forget those domes- 
tic pl5%es I had left behind me. I wanted to be among 
people, with whom I could converse upon even terms, and 
walk about the streets and fields without being afraid of being 
trod to death like a frog or a young puppy. But my de- 
liverance came sooner than I expected, and in a manner not 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 


24U 


very common ; the whole story and circumstances of which I 
shall faithfully relate. 

I had now been two years in the country ; and about the 
beginning of the third, Glumdalclitch and I attended the 
king and queen, in a progress to the south coast of the king- 
dom. I was carried as usual, in my travelling box, which, as 
I have already described was a very convenient closet of 
twelve feet wide. And I had ordered a hammock to be fixed, 
by silken ropes, from the four corners at the top, to break the 
jolts when a servant carried me before him on horse-back, as 
I sometimes desired ; and would often sleep in my hammock, 
while we were upon the road. On the roof of my closet, not 
directly over the middle of the hammock, I ordered the joiner 
to cut a hole of a foot square, to give me air in hot weather 
as I slept ; which hole I shut at pleasure, with a board that 
drew backward and forward through a groove. 

When we came to our journey’s end, the king thought 
proper to stop a few days at a palace he has near Flanflasnic, 
a city within eighteen English miles of the sea-side. Glum- 
dalclitch and I were much fatigued ; I had gotten a small 
cold, but the poor girl was so ill as to be confined to her 
chamber. I longed to see the ocean, which must be the only 
scene of my escape, if ever it should happen. I pretended to be 
worse than I really was, and desired leave to take the fresh 
air of the sea, with a page, whom I was very fond of, and 
who had sometimes been trusted with me. I shall never forget 
with what unwillingness Glumdalclitch consented, nor the 
strict charges she gave the page to be careful of me, bursting 
at the same time into a flood of tears, as if she had some 
foreboding of what was to happen. The boy took me out of 
ray box, about a half an hour’s walk from the palace, towards 
the rocks on the sea-shore. I ordered him to set me down, 
and lifting up one of my sashes, cast many a wistful melan- 
choly look towards the sea. I found myself not very well 

11 * 


250 


Gulliver’s travels. 


and told the page that I had a mind to take a nap in 
my hammock, which I hoped would do me good. I got in, 
and the boy shut the window close down to keep out the cold. 
I soon fell asleep, and all I can conjecture is, while I slept, the 
page, thinking no danger could happen, went among the rocks 
to Look for birds’ eggs, having before observed him from my 
window searching about, and picking up one or two in the 
clefts. Be that as it will, I found myse’t suddenly awakened 
with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the 
top of my box for the convenience of carriage. I felt my box 
raised very high in the air, and then borne forward with pro- 
digious speed. The first jolt had like to have shaken me out 
of my hammock, but afterward the motion was easy enough. 
I called out several times as loud as I could raise my voice, 
but all to no purpose. I looked towards the windows, and 
could see nothing but the clouds and sky. I heard a noise 
just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and then began 
to perceive the woful condition I was in ; that some eagle had 
got the cord of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it 
fall on a rock, like a tortoise in a shell, and then pick out my 
body, and devour it ; for the sagacity and smell of this bird 
enable him to discover his quarry at a great distance, though 
Detter concealed than I could be within a two-inch board. In 
a little time, I observed the noise and flutter of wings to in- 
crease very fast, and my box was tossed up and down, like a 
sign in a windy day. I heard several bangs or buffets, as I 
thought, given to the eagle (for such I am certain it must 
have been that held the cord of my box in his beak), and 
then, all on a sudden, felt myself falling perpendicularly down, 
for above a minute, but with such incredible swiftness, that I 
almost lost my breath. My fall was stopped by a terrible squash, 
that sounded louder to my ears than the cataract of Niagara ;* 

* This cataract is produced by the fall of a conflux of water (formed of the font 
vast lakes of Canada) from a rocky precipice, the perpendicular height of which ii 
one hundred and thirty-seven feet ; and it is said to have been hoard fifteen leagues 

Liaickesworth. 


A VOYAGE TO BEOBDINGNAG. 


251 


after which, I was quite in the dark for another minute, and 
then began to rise so high, that I could see light from the 
tops of the windows. I now perceived I was fallen into the 
sea. My box, by the weight of my body, the goods that were 
in, and the broad plates of iron fixed for strength at the four 
corners of the top and bottom, floated about five feet deep in 
water. I did then, and do now suppose, that the eagle which 
flew away with my box was pursued by two or three others, 
and forced to let me drop while he defended himself against 
the rest who hoped to share in the prey. The plates of iron 
fastened at the bottom of the box (for those were the strong- 
est) preserved the balance while it fell, and hindered it from 
being broken on the surface of the water. Every joint of it 
was well grooved ; and the door did not move on hinges, but 
up and down like a sash, which kept my closet so tight that 
very little water came in. I got with much difficulty out of 
my hammock, having first ventured to draw back the slip- 
board on the roof already mentioned, contrived on purpose to 
let in air, for want of which I found myself almost stifled. 

How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdal- 
clitch, from whom one single hour had so far divided me ! 
And I may say with truth, that in the midst of my own mis- 
fortunes I could not forbear lamenting my poor nurse, the 
grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of the queen, 
and the ruin of her fortune. Perhaps many travellers have 
not been under greater difficulties and distress than I was at 
this juncture, expecting every moment to see my box dashed 
to pieces, or at least overset by the first violent blast, or rising 
wave. A breach in one single pane of glass would have been 
immediate death ; nor could any thing have preserved the 
windows, but the strong lattice wires placed on the outside, 
against accidents in travelling. I saw the water ooze in at 
several crannies, although the leaks were not considerable, 
and I endeavoured to stop them as well as [ could. I was not 


252 


Gulliver’s travels. 


able to lift up the roof of my closet, which otherwise I cer 
tainly should have done, and sat on the top of it ; where 1 
might at least preserve myself some hours longer, than by 
being shut up (as I may call it) in the hold. Or if I escaped 
these dangers for a day or two, what could I expect, but a 
miserable death of cold and hunger ? I was for four hours 
under these circumstances, expecting, and indeed wishing 
every moment to be my last. 

I have already told the reader that there were two strong 
staples fixed upon that side of my box which had no window ; 
and into which the servant who used to carry me on horse- 
back, would put a leathern belt, and buckle it about his waist. 
Being in this disconsolate state, I heard or least thought I 
heard, some kind of grating noise on that side of my box 
where the staples were fixed ; soon after I began to fancy that 
the box was pulled or towed along the sea : for I now and then 
felt a sort of tugging, which made the waves rise near the tops 
of my windows, leaving mo almost in the dark. This gave 
me some faint hopes of relief, although I was not able to 
imagine how it could be brought about. I ventured to 
unscrew one of my chairs, which were always fastened to the 
floor; and having made a hard shift to screw it down again, 
directly under the slipping-board that I had lately opened, I 
mounted on the chair, and putting my mouth as near as I 
could to the hole, I called for help in a loud voice, and in all 
the languages I understood. I then fastened my handkerchief 
to a stick I usually carried, and, thrusting it up the hole, 
waved it several times in the air, that if any boat or ship were 
near, the seamen might conjecture some unhappy mortal to be 
shut up in the box. 

I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly perceived 
my closet to be moved along ; and in the space of an hour, or 
better, that side of the box where the staples were, and had nc 
windows struck against something that was hard. I appr* 


A VOYAGE TO BKOBDINGNAO. 


253 


hended it to be a rock, and found myself tossed more than ever. 
I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my closet, like that of 
a cable, and the grating of it as it passed through the ring. I 
then found myself hoisted up, by degrees, at least three feet 
higher than I was before. Whereupon I again thrust up my 
stick and handkerchief, calling for help till I was almost hoarse. 
In return to which, I heard a great shout repeated three times, 
giving me such transports of joy, as are not to be conceived 
but by those who feel them. I now heard a trampling over 
my head, and somebody calling through the hole with a loud 
voice, in the English tongue, “ If there be anybody below, let 
them speak.” I answered, “ I was an Englishman, drawn by 
ill fortune into the greatest calamity that ever any creature 
underwent, and begged by all that was moving, to be delivered 
out of the dungeon I was in.” The voice replied, “ I was safe, 
for my box was fastened to their ship; and the carpenter 
should immediately come and saw a hole in the cover, large 
enough to pull me out.” I answered “ that was needless, and 
would take up too much time ; for there was no more to be 
done, but let one of the crew put his finger into the ring, and 
take the box out of the sea into the ship, and so into the 
captain’s cabin.” * Some of them, upon hearing me talk so 
wildly, thought I was mad; others laughed; for indeed it 
never came into my head, that I was now got among people of 
my own stature and strength. The carpenter came, and in a 
few minutes sawed a passage about four feet square, then let 
down a small ladder, upon which I mounted, and thence was 
taken into the ship in a very weak condition. 

The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand 

* There are several little incidents which show the author to have had a deep 
knowledge of human nature, and I think this is one. Although the principal advan- 
tages enumerated by Gulliver in the beginning of this chapter, of mingling again 
among his countrymen, depended on their being of the same size with himself, yet 
this is forgotten in his ardour to be delivered : and he is afterwards betrayed int« 
tbe same alsurdity, by his zeal to preserve his furniture.— /ZauvfcewcorM. 


254 


gulliyer’s travels. 


questions, which I had no inclination to answer. I was 
equally confounded at the sight of so many pigmies, for such 
I took them to be, after having so long accustomed mine eyes 
to the monstrous objects I had left. But the captain, Mr 
Thomas Wilcocks, an honest worthy Shropshire man, observ- 
ing I was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a 
cordial to comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own 
bed, advising me to take a little rest, of which I had great 
need. Before I went to sleep, I gave him to understand that 
I had some valuable furniture in my box, too good to be lost : 
a fine hammock, a handsome field-bed, two chairs, a table, 
and a cabinet ; that my closet was hung on all sides, or rather 
quilted, with silk and cotton ; that if he would let one of the 
crew bring my closet into his cabin, I would open it there 
before him, and show him my goods. The captain, hearing 
me utter these absurdities, concluded I was raving ; however 
(I suppose to pacify me) he promised to give order as I desired, 
and going upon deck, sent some of his men down into my 
closet, whence (as I afterwards found), they drew up all my 
goods, and stripped off the quilting ; but the chairs, cabinet, 
and bedstead, being screwed to the floor, were much damaged 
by the ignorance of the seamen, who tore them up by force. 
Then they knocked off some of the boards for the use of the 
ship, and when they had got all they had a mind for, let the 
hull drop into th^ sea, which, by reason of many breaches 
made in the bottom and sides, sunk outright. And, indeed, I 
was glad not to have been a spectator of the havoc they made; 
because I am confident it would have sensibly touched me, by 
bringing former passages into my mind which I would rather 
have forgot. 

I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams 
of the place I had left, and the dangers I had escaped. How- 
ever, upon waking, I found myself much recovered. It was 
now about eight o’clock at night, and the captain ordered 


A VOYAGE TO BKOBDINGtfAG. 255 


supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too long. 
He entertained me with great kindness, observing me not to 
look wildly, or talk inconsistently ; and when we were left 
alone, desired I would give him a relation of my travels, and 
by what accident I came to be set adrift in that monstrous 
wooden chest. He said, “ that about twelve o’clock at noon, 
as he was looking through his glass, he spied it at a distance 
and thought it was a sail, which he had a mind to make, being 
not much out of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit, 
his own beginning to fall short. That upon coming nearer 
and finding his error, he sent out his long boat, to discover 
what it was : that his men came back in a fright, swearing 
they had seen a swimming house. That he laughed at theii 
folly, and went himself in the boat, ordering his men to take 
a strong cable along with them. That the weather being 
calm, he rowed round me several times, observed my windows 
and wire lattices that defended them. That he discovered two 
staples upon one side, which was all of boards, without any 
passage for light. He then commanded his men to row up 
to that side, and fastening a cable to one of the staples, 
ordered them to tow my chest, as they called it, toward the 
ship. When it was there, he gave directions to fasten another 
cable to the ring fixed in the cover, and raise up my chest 
with pulleys, which all the sailors were not able to do above 
two or three feet. He said, they saw my gjtick and handker- 
chief thrust out of the hole, and concluded that some unhappy 
man must be shut up in the cavity.” I asked, “ whether he 
or the crew had seen any prodigious birds in the air, about 
the time he first discovered me ?” To which he answered, 
“ that discoursing this matter with the sailors while I was 
asleep, one of them said he had observed three eagles flying 
towards the north, but he remarked nothing of their being 
larger than the usual size ; ” which I suppose must be impu- 
ted to the great height they were at ; and he could not guess 


256 


gulliyer’s travels. 


the reason of iny question. I then asked the captain, “ how 
far he reckoned we might be from land ?” He said, “ by the 
best computation he could make, we were at least a hundred 
leagues.” I assured him he must be mistaken by almost half, 
for I had not left the country whence I came above two 
hours before I dropped into the sea.” Whereupon he began 
again to think that my brain was disturbed, of which he gave 
me a hint, and advised me to go to bed in a cabin he had 
provided. I assured him, “ I was well refreshed with his 
good entertainment and company, and as much in my senses 
as ever I was in my life.” He then grew serious, and 
desired to ask me freely, “ whether I were not troubled in 
my mind by the consciousness of some enormous crime, 
for which I was punished at the command of some 
prince, by exposing me in that chest ; as great crim- 
inals, in other countries, have been forced to sea in a 
leaky vessel, without provisions : for although he should be 
sorry to take so ill a man into his ship, yet he would engage 
his word to set me safe ashore, in the first port where we 
arrived?” He added, “that his suspicions were much 
increased by some very absurd speeches I had delivered at 
first to his sailors, and afterwards to himself, in relation to 
my closet or chest, as well as by my odd looks and behavioui 
while I was at supper.” 

I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which 1 
faithfully did, from the last time I left England to the 
moment he first discovered me. And as truth always forces 
its way into rational minds, so this honest worthy gentleman, 
who had some tincture of learning and very good sense, was 
immediately convinced of my candour and veracity. But 
farther to confirm all I had said, I entreated him to give 
order that my cabinet should be brought, of which I had the 
key in my pocket ; for he had already informed me how 
the seamen disposed of my closet. I opened it in his own 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 257 


presence, and showed him the small collection of rarities I 
made in the country from which I had been so strangely 
delivered. There was the comb I had contrived out of the 
stumps of the king’s beard, and another of the same materials, 
but fixed into a paring of her majesty’s thumb nail, which 
served for back. There was a collection of needles and pins, 
from a foot to half a yard long; four .wasps’ stings, like 
joiner’s tacks ; some combings of the queen’s hair ; a gold ring 
which one day she made me a present of, in the most obliging 
manner, taking it from her little finger, and throwing it over 
my head like a collar. I desired the captain would please to 
accept this ring in return for his civilities ; which he abso- 
lutely refused. I showed him a corn which I had cut off 
with my own hand, from a maid of honour’s toe; it was 
about the bigness of a Kentish pippin, and grown so hard 
that when I returned to England, I got it hollowed into a cup, 
and set in silver. Lastly, I desired him to see the breeches 
I had then on, which were made of a mouse’s skin. 

I could force nothing on him but a footman’s tooth, which 
I observed him to examine with great curiosity, and found he 
had a fancy for it. He received it with abundance of thanks, 
more than such a trifle could deserve. It was drawn by an 
unskilful surgeon, in a mistake, from one of Glumdalclitch’s 
men, who was afflicted with the tooth-ache, but it was as sound 
as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it in my cabinet. 
It was about a foot long, and four inches in diameter. 

The captain was very well satisfied with this plain re- 
lation I had given him, and said, “ he hoped, when we returned 
to England I would oblige the world by putting it on paper, 
and making it public.” My answer was, “ that I thought we 
were overstocked with books of travels ; that nothing could 
now pass which was not extraordinary ; wherein, I doubted 
some authors less consulted truth, than their own vanity, or 
interest, or the diversion of ignorant readers ; that my storv 


258 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS. 


could contain little besides common events without thosa 
ornamental descriptions of strange plants, trees, birds, and 
other animals ; or of the barbarous customs and idolatry of 
savage people, with which most writers abound.” However, 
I thanked him for his good opinion, and promised to take 
the matter into my thoughts. 

He said, “ he wondered at one thing very much, which was 
at hearing me speak so loud ; asking me, whether the king 
and queen of that country were thick of hearing ?” I told 
him, “ it was what I had been used to for above two years 
past, and that I admired as much a t the voices of him and his 
men, who seemed to me only to whisper, and yet I could hear 
them well enough. But, when I spoke in that country, it was 
like a man talking in the streets to another looking out from 
the top of a steeple, unless when I was placed on a table, or 
held in any person’s hand.” I told him, “ I had likewise ob- 
served another thing, that when I first got into the ship, and 
the sailors stood all about me, I thought they were the most 
contemptible little creatures I had ever beheld.” For, indeed, 
while I was in that prince’s country, I could never endure to 
look in a glass after mine eyes had been accustomed to such 
prodigious objects, because the comparisons gave me so des- 
picable a conceit of myself. The captain said, “ that while we 
were at supper he observed me to look at every thing with a 
sort of wonder, and that I often seemed hardly able to contain 
my laughter, which he knew not well how to take, but imputed 
it to some disorder in my brain.” I answered, “ It was very 
true ; and I wondered how I could forbear, when I saw his 
dishes of the size of a silver threepence, a leg of pork hardly 
a mouthful, a cup not so big as a nutshell and so I went on, 
describing the rest of his household stuff and provisions, after 
the same manner. For, although the queen had ordered a 
little equipage of all things necessary for me, while I was in 
her service, yet my ideas were wholly taken up with what if 


A VOTAGE TO BKOBDIKGNAd. 259 

saw on every side of me, and Iv.ink.M ui my ovn littleness as 
people do at their own faults. ! t, , n understood my 
raillery very well, and merrily replieu -v.r.h the oi English 
proverb, that he doubted mine eyes were ' igger than my 
belly, for he did not observe my stomach so good, ougli I 
had fasted all day; and, continuing in his mirth, protested, 
“ he would have gladly given a hundred pounds, to have seen 
my closet in the eagle’s bill, and afterwards in its fall from so 
great a height into the sea, which would certainly have been 
a most astonishing object worthy to have the description of 
it transmitted to future ages ; and the comparison of Phaeton 
was so obvious, that he could not forbear applying it, although 
I did not much admire the conceit. 

The captain having been at Tonquin, was, in his return to 
England, driven north-eastward to the latitude of 44 degrees, 
and longitude of 143. But meeting a trade wind two days 
after I came on board him, we sailed southward a long time, 
and coasting New Holland, kept our course west-south-west, 
and then south-south-west, till we doubled the Cape of 
Good Hope. Our voyage was very prosperous, but I shall not 
trouble the reader with a journal of it. The captain called 
in at one or two ports, and sent in his long-boat for provisions 
and fresh water ; but I never went out of the ship till we came 
into the Downs, which was on the third day of June, 1706, 
about nine months after my escape. I offered to leave my 
goods in security for payment of my freight, but the captain 
protested he would not receive one farthing. We took a kind 
of leave of each other, and made him promise he would come 
to see me at my house in Redriff. I hired a horse and guide 
for five shillings which I borrowed of the captain.'* 

* This exquisitely simple incident will probably remind the reader of Campbell’* 
Ascription of Commodore Byron : 


In horrid climes, where Chiloe’s tempests sweep 
Tempestuous murmurs o’er the troubled deep, 


200 


U L 3j I VEE’s TRAVELS. 


vai on the rond observing the littleness of the horses 
th . . t- the '■•attic and the people, I began to think myself 
in Liiiipui. i was afraid of trampling on every traveller I 
met, and often called aloud to them to have them stand out 
of the way, so that I had like to have gotten one or two 
broken heads for my impertinence. 

When [ came to my own house, for which I was forced to 
inquire, one of my servants opening the door, I bent down 
to go in (like a goose under a gate), for fear of striking my 
head. My wife ran out to embrace me, but I stooped lower 
than her knees, thinking she could otherwise never be able to 
reach my mouth. My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, 
but I could not see her till she arose, having been so long 
used to stand with my head and eyes erect to above sixty 
feet ; and then I went to take her up with one hand by the 
•waist. I looked down upon the servants, and one or two 
friends who were in the house, as if they had been pigmies, 
and I a giant. I told my wife, “ she had been too thrifty, for 
I found she had starved herself and her daughter to nothing.’ 
In short, I behaved myself so unaccountably that they were 
all of the captain’s opinion when he first saw me, and concluded 
I had lost my wits. This I mention as an instance of the 
great power of habit and prejudice. 

4 

’Twas his to mourn Misfortune’s rudest shock ; 

Scourged by the winds and cradled on the rock, 

To wake each joyless morn and search again 
The famished haunts of solitary men, 

Whose race unyielding as their native storm, 

Know not a trace of nature but the form ; 

Yet at thy call the hardy tar pursued, 

Pale, but intrepid, sad, but unsubdued, 

Pierced the deep woods, and hailing from afar 
The moon’s pale planet and the northern star. 

Paused at each dreary cry unheard before, 

Hyenas in the wild and mermaids on the shore J 
Till led by Hope o’er many a cliff sublime, 

He found a warmer world, a milder clime, 

A home to rest, a shelter to defend, 

Peace and repose, a Rriton and a friend 




A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 261 


In a little time, I and my family and friends came to a right 
understanding ; but my wife protested I should never go to 
sea any more ; although my evil destiny so ordered, that she 
had not power to hinder me, as the reader may know here- 
after. In the mean time, I here concluded the Second Part 
of my unfortunate Voyage. 


v 


I- 













PART III. 

A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, 


BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB AND JAPAN 





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f 








' 










A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, 

BALNIBARBJ, LUGGXAGG, GLDBBDRUBDRIB AND JAPAN. 

CHAPTER I. 


The Author sets out on his third voyage — Is taken by pirates — The malice of a 
Dutchman— His arrival at an island — He is received in Laputa. 

I had cot been at home above ten days, when Captain 
William Robinson, a Cornishman, commander of the Hope 
well, a stout ship, of three hundred tons, came to my house. 
I had formerly been surgeon of another ship, where he was 
master and a fourth part owner, in a voyage to the Levant. 
He had always treated me more like a brother than an infe- 
rior officer ; and hearing of my arrival, made me a visit, as I 
apprehended only out of friendship, for nothing passed more 
than what is usual after long absences. But repeating his 
visits often, expressing his joy to find me in good health, 
asking, “ whether I were now settled for life,” adding “ that he 
intended a voyage to the East Indies in two months,” at last 


* Dr. Swift seems to have borrowed several hints, in his Voyage to Laputa, from a 
novel written by the learned Dr. Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandafif, called “ Man 
in the Moon, or a Discourse of a Voyage thither, by Domingo Gonsales, 1638,” 8vo. 
This philosophic romance, which has been several times printed, shows that Bishop 
Godwin had a creative genius. His ‘‘Nuncius Inanimatus,” which contains 
instructions to convey secret intelligence, is very scarce. He diod in April, 1683. — N. 

12 


265 


266 


gclliver’s travels. 


i - plainly invited me, though with some apologies, to be sur- 
geon of the ship; “ that I should have another surgeon undei 
me, beside • n two 'mates ; that my salary should be. double 
to the usual pay ; and having experienced my knowledge in 
sea affairs to be at least equal to his, he would enter into 
an engagement to follow my advice, as much as if I had 
shared in the command.” 

He said so many obliging things, and I knew him to be so 
honest a man, that I could not reject the proposal ; the thirst 
I had of seeing the world, notwithstanding my past misfor- 
tunes, continuing as violent as ever. The only difficulty that 
remained, was to persuade my wife, whose consent, however, 
I at last obtained, by the prospect of advantage she proposed 
to her children. 

We set out on the fifth day of August, 1*706, and arrived 
at Fort St. George the eleventh of April, 1707. We stayed 
there three weeks to refresh our crew, many of whom were 
sick. From thence we went to Tonquin, where the captain 
resolved to continue some time, because many of the goods he 
intended to buy were not ready, nor could he expect to be dis- 
patched for several months. Therefore, in hopes to defray some 
of the charges he must be at, he bought a sloop, loaded it with 
several sorts of goods, wherewith the Tonquinese usually trade 
to the neighbouring islands, and putting fourteen men on 
board, whereof three were of the country, he appointed me 
master of the sloop, and gave me power to traffic, while ho 
transacted his affairs at Tonquin. 

We had not sailed above three days, when a great .'orm 
arising, we were driven five days to the north-north-eaj.t and 
then to the east ; after which we had fair weather, tut still 
with a pretty strong gale from the west Upon the t’nth day 
we were chased by two pirates, who soon overtook \\ ; for my 
sloop was so deeply laden, that she sailed very slo r.euheT 
were we in a condition to defend ourselves. 


207 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 

We were boarded about tbe same time by both the pirates’ 
fho entered furiously at the head of their men ; but finding 
us all prostrate upon our faces (for so I gave order), they 
pinioned us with strong ropes, and setting a guard upon us, 
went to search the sloop. 

I observed among them a Dutchman, who seemed to be 
of some authority, though he was not commander of either 
ship. He knew us by our countenances to be Englishmen, 
and jabbering to us in our own language, swore we should be 
tied back to back and thrown into the sea. I spoke Dutch 
tolerably well ; I told him who we were, and begged him, in 
consideration of our being Christians and Protestants, of our 
neighbouring countries in strict alliance, that he would move 
the captains to take some pity on us. This inflamed his rage ; 
he repeated the threatenings, and turning to his companions 
spoke with great vehemence in the Japanese language, as I 
suppose, often using the word Christianos. 

The largest of the two pirate ships was commanded by a 
Japanese captain, who spoke a little Dutch, but very imper- 
fectly. He came up to me, and after several questions which 
I answered in great humility, he said, “ we should not die.” 
I made the captain a very low bow, and then, turning to the 
Dutchman, said, “I was sorry to find more mercy in a heathen 
than in a fellow Christian.” But I had soon reason to repent 
those foolish words : for that malicious reprobate, having 
often endeavoured in vain to persuade both the captains that 
l might be thrown into the sea (which they would not yield to 
after the promise made me that I should not die,) however, 
prevailed so far, as to have a punishment inflicted on me, 
wmrse, in all human appearance, than death itself. My men 
were sent by an equal division into both the pirate ships, and 
my sloop new manned. As to myself, it was determined I 
should be set adrift in a small canoe, with paddles and a sail 
and four days’ provisions ; which last, the Japanese captain 


265 Gulliver’s travels. 

was so kivid as to double out his Dwn stores, and would per- 
mit no man to search me. I got down into the canoe, while 
the Dutchman, standing upon the deck, loaded me with all 
the curses and injurious terms his language could afford. 

About an hour before we saw the pirates, I had taken an 
observation, and found we were in the latitude of 46 N. 
and longitude of 183. When I was at some distance from 
the pirates, I discovered by my pocket glass, several islands to 
the south-east. I set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a 
design to reach the nearest of those islands, which I made a 
shift to do, in about three hours. It was all rocky : how- 
ever I got many birds’ eggs, and striking fire, I kindled some 
heath and dry sea-weed, by which I roasted my eggs. I ate 
no other supper, being resolved to spare my provisions as much 
as I could. I passed the night under the shelter of a rock, 
strewing some heath under me, and slept pretty well. 

The next day I sailed to another island, and thence to a 
third and fourth, sometimes using my sail, sometimes my 
paddles. But, not to trouble my reader with a particular 
account of my distresses, let it suffice that on the fifth day I 
arrived at the last island in my sight, which lay south-south- 
east to the former. 

This island was at a greater distance than I expected, and I 
did not reach it in less than five hours. I encompassed it 
% almost round, before I could find a convenient place to land 
in ; which was a small creek, about three times the wideness 
of my canoe. I found the island to be all rocky, only a little 
intermingled with tufts of grass, and sweet-smelling herbs. I 
took out my small provisions, and after having refreshed 
myself, I secured the remainder in a cave, whereof there were 
great numbers ; I gathered plenty of eggs upon the rocks, and 
got a quantity of dry sea-weed, and parched grass, which I 
designed to kindle the next day, and roast my eggs as well as 
I could, for I had about me my flint, steel, watch, and burning 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 269 


glass. I lay all night in the cave where I had lodged my pro- 
visions. My bed was the same dry grass and sea-weed which 
I intended for fuel. I slept very little, for the disquiets of my 
mind prevailed over my weariness, and kept me awake. I 
considered how impossible it was to preserve my life in so 
desolate a place, and how miserable my end must be : yet 
found myself so listless and desponding, that I had not the 
heart to rise ; and before I could get spirits enough to creep 
out of my cave, the day was far advanced. I walked awhile 
among the rocks : the sky was perfectly clear, and the sun so 
hot, that I was forced to turn my face from it: when all on a 
sudden it became obscure, as I thought, in a mariner very 
different from what happens by the interposition of a cloud. 
I turned back, and perceived a vast opaque body between me 
and the sun moving forward towards the island ; it seemed to 
be about two miles high, and hid the sun six or seven minutes ; 
but I did not observe the air to be much colder, or the sky 
more darkened, than if I had stood under the shade of a 
mountain. As it approached nearer over the place I was, it 
appeared to be a firm substance, the bottom flat, smooth, and 
shining very bright, from the reflection of the sea below. I 
stood upon a height about two hundred yards from the shore, 
and saw this vast body descending almost to a parallel with me, 
at less than an English mile distance. I took out my pocket 
perspective, and could plainly discover numbers of people 
moving up and down the sides of it, which appeared to be 
sloping ; but what those people were doing I was not able to 
distinguish. 

The natural love of life gave me some inward motion of joy, 
and I was ready to entertain a hope that this adventure might, 
some way or other, help to deliver me from the desolate place 
and condition I was in. But at the same time the reader can 
hardly conceive my astonishment, to behold an island in the 


270 


qulliyer’s travels. 

air, inhabited by men, who were able (as it should seem) to 
raise or sink, or put into progressive motion, as they pleased. 
But not being at that time in a. disposition to philosophize upon 
this phenomenon, I rather chose to observe what course the 
island would take, because it seemed for a while to stand still. 
Yet soon after it advanced nearer, and I could see the sides of 
it encompassed with several gradations of galleries, and stairs, 
at certain intervals, to descend from one to the other. In the 
lowest gallery, I beheld some people fishing with long angling- 
rods, and others looking on. I waved my cap (for my hat was 
long since worn out) and my handkerchief towards the island ; 
and upon its nearer approach, I called and shouted with the 
utmost strength of my voice ; and then looking circumspectly, 
I beheld a crowd gathered to that side which was most in m v 
view. I found by their pointing towards me and to each 
other, that they plainly discovered me, although they made 
no return to my shouting. But I could see four or five men 
running in great haste, up the stairs, to the top of the island, 
who then disappeared. I happened rightly to conjecture, 
that these were sent for orders, to some person in authority, 
upon this occasion. 

The number of people increased, and in less than half an 
hour, the island was moved and raised in such a manner, that 
the lowest gallery appeared in a parallel of less than a hun- 
dred yards’ distance from the height were I stood. I then 
put myself in the most supplicating postures, and spoke in the 
humblest accent, but received no answer. Those who stood 
nearest over against me, seemed to be persons of distinction, 
as I supposed by their habit. They conferred earnestly with 
each other, looking often upon me. At length one of them 
called out in a clear, polite, smooth dialect, not unlike in 
sound to the Italian ; and therefore I returned an answer in 
that language, hoping at least that the cadence might be 


271 


7 

A TOY 1 G E TO L A P U A , ETC 

more agreeable to his ears. Although neither of us undei ood 
the other, yet my meaning was easily known, for the people 
saw the distress I was in. 

They made signs for me to come down from the rock, ' 
go towards the shore, which I accordingly did ; and the flying 
island being raised to a convenient height, the verge directly 
over me, a chain was let down from the lowest gallery, with a 
seat fastened to the bottom, to which I fixed myself, and was 
drawn up by pulleys. 


272 


gulliv.er’s travels 


CHAPTER II. 

The humours and dispositions of the Laputians desciibed — An account of the! 
learning — Of the king and his court — The author’s reception there — The inhabit- 
ants subject to fear and disquietudes — An account of the women. 

At my alighting, I was surrounded with a crowd of people, 
but those who stood nearest seemed to be of better quality. 
They beheld me with all the marks and circumstances of 
wonder, neither indeed was I much in their debt; having 
never till then seen a race of mortals so singular in their shapes, 
habits, and countenances. Their heads were all reclined, 
either to the right, or the left; one of their eyes turned 
inward, and the other directly up to the zenith.* Their out- 
ward garments were adorned with the figures of suns, moons, 
and stars; interwoven with those of fiddles, flutes, harps, 
trumpets, guitars, harpsichords, and many other instruments 
of music unknown to us in Europe. I observed, here and 
there, many in the habit of servants, with a blown bladder fast- 
ened like a flail to the end of a stick, which they carried in 
their hands. - In each bladder was a small quantity of dried 
peas, or little pebbles, as I was afterward informed. With 
these bladders they now and then flapped the mouths and 
ears of those who stood near them, of which practice I could 
not then conceive the meaning. It seems the minds of these 
people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they 

* By this description the author intended to ridicule those who waste life in specu 
lative sciences, the powers of whose minds are as absurdly employed as the eyes of 
Laputians. — 11. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 


273 


neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses ot others, 
without being roused by some external taction upon the prgans 
of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are 
able to afford it always keep a flapper (the original is climen- 
ole) in their family, as one of their domestics ; nor ever walk 
abroad, or make visits, without him. And the business of this 
officer is, when two, three, or more persons are in company, 
gently to strike with his bladder the mouth of him who is to 
speak, and the right ear of him or them to whom the speaker 
addresses himself. This flapper is likewise employed diligently 
to attend his master in his walks, and upon occasion to give 
him a soft flap on his eyes; because he is always so wrapped 
up in cogitation, that he is in manifest danger of falling 
down every precipice, and bouncing his head against every 
post; and in the streets, of justling others, or being justled 
himself into the kennel. 

It was necessary to give the reader this information, with- 
out which he would be at the same loss with me to understand 
the proceedings of these people, as they conducted me up the 
stairs, to the top of the island, and from thence to the royal 
palace. While we were ascending, they forgot several times 
what they were about, and left me to myself, till their memo- 
ries were again roused by their flappers : for they appeared 
a! oget he an moved by the sight of my foreign habit and coun 
; mance. md : :>y the shouts of the vulgar, whose thoughts and 
mi nds were more disengaged. 

At las- > e entered the palace, and proceeded into the cham- 
ber of prose’i ;e, where- 1 saw the king seated on his throne, 
at tended on <_ ach side by persons of prime quality. Before 
the throne, was a large table filled with globes and spheres, 
and u athen.atical instruments of all kinds. His majesty took 
not the least notice of us, although our entrance was not 
without sufficient noise, by the concourse of all persons belong- 
to the urt. But he was then deep in a problem; and 
12 * 



274 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


we attended at least an hour, before he could solve it. There 
stood #by him, on each side, a young page with flaps in their 
hands, and when they saw he was at leisure, one of them 
gently struck his mouth, and the other his right ear ; at which 
he startled like one awaked on the sudden, and looking 
towards me and the company I was in, recollected the occa- 
sion of our coming, whereof he had been informed before. — 
He spoke some words, whereupon immediately a young man 
with a flap came up to my side, and flapped me gently on the 
right ear ; but I made signs, as well as I could, that I had no 
occasion for such an instrument ; which, as I afterward found, 
gave his majesty, and the whole court, a very mean opinion 
of my understanding. The king, as far as I could conjecture, 
asked me several questions, and I addressed myself to him in 
all the languages I had. When it was found I could neither 
understand nor be understood, I was conducted by his order 
to an apartment in his palace (this prince being distinguished 
above all his predecessors for his hospitality to strangers) where 
servants were appointed to attend me. My dinner was brought, 
and four persons of quality, whom I remember to have seen very 
near the king’s person, did me the honour to dine with me. — 
We had two -courses, of three dishes each. In the first course, 
there was a shoulder of mutton cut into an equilateral triangle, 
a piece of beef into a rhomboides, and a puddi. >■ into a e\ ’• i 
The second course was two ducks trussed up in the form oi 
fiddles, sausages and puddings resembling flutes and hautboys, * 
and a breast of veal in the shape of a harj The servants 
cut our bread into cones, cylinders, parallelogra ’ , and several 
other mathematical figures. 

While we were at dinner, I made bold tc -ask the names 
of several things in their language, and those t . e persons, 
by the assistance of their flappers, delighted to _< ■ c ; i n s ■ ,v e rs, 

hoping to raise my admiration cf their grt abilities, if I 
sould be brought to converse with them. 1 soon T ie 
x> call for bread and drink, or whatever else I wanted 

% 


A VOYAGE TO LAPU.A, ETC 375 

After dinner my company withdrew, and a pers w 3 sent 
to me by the king’s order, attended by a flapper, j: ronght 

with him, pen, ink, and paper, and three or four books, giving 
me to understand, by signs, that he was sent to teach me the 
language. We sat together four hours, in which time I 
wrote down a great number of words in columns, with the 
translations over against them : I likewise made a shift tc 
learn several short sentences ; for my tutor would order some 
of my servants to fetch something, to turn about, to make a 
bow, to sit, or to stand, or walk, and the like. Then I took 
down the sentence in writing. He shewed me also, in one of 
the books, the figures of the sun, moon, and stars, the zodiac, 
the tropics, and polar circles, together with the denominations 
of many planes and solids. He gave me the names and des- 
criptions of all their musical instruments, and the general 
terms of art in playing'on each of them. After he had left 
me, I placed all my words, with their interpretations, in alpha- 
betical order. And thus, in a few days, by the help of a very 
faithful memory, I got some insight into their language. 

The word, which I interpret the flying or floating island, is 
in the original Laputa , whereof I could never learn the true 
etymology. Zap, in the old obsolete language, signifies high ; 
and untuh , a governor ; from which they say, by corruption 
was drived Laputa ;, from Lapuntuh. But I do not approve 
of this derivation, which seems to be a little strained. I ven- 
tured to offer to the learned among them a conjecture of my 
own, that Laputa was quasi lapouted ; lap , signifying pro- 
perly, the dancing of the sun-beams in the sea, and outed , a 
wing ; which, however, I shall not obtrude, but submit to the 
judicious reader. 

Those to w'hom the king had intrusted me, observing how 
ill I was clad, ordered a tailor to come next morning, and take 
measure for a suit of clothes, This operator did his office 
after a different manner from those of his trade in Europe. 


4 


76 oulliyer’s travels. 

lie ■ >k my altitude by a quadrant, and then, with rul* 
and con sses, described the dimension and outlines of my 
who; body, all which he entered ugon paper; and in six days 
brought my clothes very ill made, and quite out of shape, by 
happening to mistake a figure in the calculation. But my 
comfort was, that I observed such accidents very frequent, and 
little regarded. 

During my confinement for want of clothes, and by an 
indisposition that held me some days longer, I much enlarged 
my dictionary ; and when I went next to court, was able to 
understand many things the king spoke, and to return him 
some kind of answers. His majesty had given orders, that the 
island should move north-east and by east, to the vertical point 
over Lagado, the metropolis of the whole kingdom below, upon 
the firm earth. It was about ninety leagues distant, and our 
voyage lasted four days and a half. I was not in the least sen - 
sible of the progressive motion made in the air by the island. 
On the second morning, about eleven o’clock, the king him- 
self in person, attended by his nobility, courtiers, and officers, 
having prepared all their musical instruments, played on them 
for three hours without intermission, so that I was quite 
stunned with the noise ; neither could I possibly guess the 
meaning, till my tutor informed me. He said, “ that the peo- 
ple of their island had their ears adapted to hear the music 
of the spheres, which always played - at certain periods, and 
the court was now prepared to bear their part, in whatever 
instrument they most excelled.” 

In our journey towards Lagado, the capital city, his majesty 
ordered that the island should stop over certain towns and 
villages, from whence he might receive the petitions of his 
subjects. And to this purpose, several packthreads were let 
down, with small weights at the bottom. On these pack- 
threads the people strung their petitions, which mounted 
up directly, like the scraps of paper fastened by schoolboy* 


A VOYAGE TO LAPCTA, ETC. 277 


ftt the end of a string that holds their kite. Sometimes 
we received wine and victuals from below, which were drawn 
up by pulleys. 

The knowledge I had in mathematics, gave me great 
assistance in acquiring their phraseology, which depended 
much upon that science, and music ; and in the latter I was 
not unskilled. Their ideas are perpetually conversant in lines 
and figures. If they would, for example, praise the beauty 
of a woman, or any other animal they describe it by rhombs, 
circles, parallelograms, ellipses, and other geometrical terras, 
or by words of art drawn from music, needless here to repeat. 
I observed in the king’s kitchen all sorts of mathematical and 
musical instruments, after the figures of which they cut up 
the joints that were served to his majesty’s table. 

Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel without one 
right angle in any apartment ; and this defect arises from the 
contempt they bear to practical geometry, which they despise 
as vulgar and mechanic : those instructions they give being 
too refined for the intellects of their workmen, which occasions 
perpetual mistakes. And although they are dexterous enough 
upon a piece of paper, in the management of the rule, the 
pencil, and the divider, yet in the common actions and 
behaviour of life, I have not seen a more clumsy, awkward, 
and unhandy people, nor so slow and perplexed in their con 
ceptions upon all other objects, except those of mathematics 
and music. They are very bad reasoners, and vehemently 
given to opposition, unless when they happen to be of the 
right opinion, which is seldom their case. Imagination, fancy, 
and invention, they are wholly strangers to, nor have any 
words in their language, by which those ideas can be expressed ; 
the whole compass of their thoughts and mind being shut 
up within the two forementioned sciences. 

Most of them, and especially those who deal in the astro* 
nomical part, have great faith in judicial astrology, although 


278 


GULLIVER 8 TRAVELS. 


they are ashamed to own it publicly. But what I ehieflj 
admired, and thought altogether unaccountable, was the strong 
disposition I observed in them towards news and politics, 
perpetually inquiring into public affairs, giving their judg- 
ments in matters of state, and passionately disputing every 
inch of a party opinion. I have indeed observed the same 
disposition among most of the mathematicians I have known 
in Europe, although I could never discover- the least analogy 
between the two sciences, unless those people suppose, that 
because the smallest circle has as many degrees as the largest, 
therefore the regulation and management of the world require 
no more abilities than the handling and turning of a globe ; 
but I rather take this quality to spring from a very common 
infirmity of human nature, inclining us to be most curious 
and conceited in matters where we have least concern, and for , 
which we are least adapted by study or nature. 

These people are under continual disquietudes, never enjoy- 
ing a minute’s peace of mind : and their disturbances proceed 
from causes which very little affect the rest of mortals. Their 
apprehensions arise from several changes they dread in the 
celestial bodies : for instance, that the earth, by the continual 
approaches of the sun towards it must, in course of time, 
be absorbed, or swallowed up ; that the face of the sun will, 
by degrees, be encrusted by its own effluvia, and give no more 
light to the world ; that the earth very narrowly escaped a 
brush from the tail of the last comet, which would have 
infallibly reduced it to ashes ; and that the next, which they 
have calculated for one-and-thirty years hence, will probably 
destroy us. For if, in its perihelion, it should approach within 
a certain degree of the sun (as by their calculations they have 
reason to dread), it will receive a degree of heat ten thousand 
times more intense than* that of red hot glowing iron ; and, 
in its absence from the sun, carrying a blazing tail ten hundred 
thousand and fourteen miles long; through which, if the 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 

earth should pass at the distance of one hundred thousand 
miles from the nucleus, or main body of the comet, it must 
it its passage be set on fire, and reduced to ashes : that the 
sun, daily spending its rays without any nutriment to supply 
them, will at last be wholly consumed and annihilated ; which 
must be attended with the destruction of this earth, and of all 
the planets that receive their light from it.* 

They are so perpetually alarmed with the apprehensions of 
these, and the like impending dangers, that they can neither 
sleep quietly in their beds, nor have any relish for the com- 
mon pleasures and amusements of life. When they meet an 
acquaintance in the morning, the first question is about the 
sun’s health, how he looked at his setting and rising, and what 
hopes they have to avoid the stroke of the approaching comet. 
This conversation they are apt to run into with the same 
temper that boys discover in delighting to hear terrible stories 
of spirits and hobgoblins, which they greedily listen to, and 
dare not go to bed for fear. 

The women of the island have abundance of vivacity : they 
contemn their husbands, and are exceedingly fond of strangers; 
whereof there is always a considerable number from the con- 
tinent below, attending at court either upon affairs of the 
several towns and corporations, or their own particular 
occasions, but are much despised, because they want the same 
endowments. Among these the ladies choose their gallants ; 
but the vexation is, that they act with too much ease and 
security; for the husband is always so rapt in speculation, 
that the mistress and lover may proceed to the greatest 
familiarities before his face, if he be but provided with paper 
and implements, and without his flapper at his side. 

The wives and daughters lament their confinement to the 
island, although I think it the most delicious spot of ground in 


* All these were suppositions of persona eminent in their time for mathematicnJ 
Knowledge.— H. 

m 


Gulliver’s travels. 

the world : and although they live here in the greatest plenty 
and magnificence, and are allowed to do whatever they please, 
they long to see the world, and take the diversions of the 
metropoles ; which they are not allowed to do without a 
particular license from the king ; and this is not easy to be 
obtained, because the people of quality have found, by frequent 
experience, how hard it is to persuade their women to return 
from below. I was told, that a great court lady, who had 
several children, — is married to the prime minister, the rich- 
est subject in the kingdom, a very graceful person, extremely 
fond of her, and lives in the finest palace of the island, — 
went down to Lagado on the pretense of health, there hid 
herself for several months, till the king sent a warrant to 
search for her ; and she was found in an obscure eating-house 
all in rags, having pawned her clothes to maintain an old 
deformed footman, who beat her every day, and in whose 
company she was taken, much against her will. And although 
her husband received her with all possible kindness, and 
without the least reproach, she soon after contrived to steal 
down again ; with all her jewels, to the same gallant, and has 
not been heard of since. 

This may perhaps pass with the reader rather for a Euro- 
pean or English story, than for one of a country so remote. 
But he may please to consider, that the caprices of woman- 
kind are not limited to any climate or nation, and that they 
are much more uniform than can be easily imagined. 

In about a month’s time I had made a tolerable proficiencv 
in their language, and was able to answer most of the king’s 
questions, when I had the honour to attend him. His 
majesty discovered not the least curiosity to inquire into the 
laws, government, history, religion, 01 manners of the countries 
where I had been ; but confined his questions to the state of 
mathematics, and received the account I gave him with great 
contempt and indifference, though often roused by his flapper 
on each side. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 


281 


CHAPTER III. 


A phenomenon solved try modern philosophy and astronomy. The Laputians' 
great improvement in the latter. The king’s method of suppressing insurrections. 


I desired leave of the prince to see the curiosities of the 
island, which he was graciously pleased to grant, and ordered 
my tutor to attend me. I chiefly wanted to know, to what 
cause in art or in nature it owed its several motions, whereof 
I will now give a philosophical account to the reader. 

The flying or floating island is exactly circular, its diameter 
7837 yards, or about four miles and a half, and consequently 
contains ten thousand acres. It is three hundred yards thick. 
The bottom, or under surface, which appears to those who 
view it below, is one even regular plate of adamant, shooting 
up to the height Gf above two hundred yards. Above it lie 
the several minerals in their usual order, and over all is a 
coat of rich mould, ten or twelve feet deep. The declivity 
of the upper surface, from the circumference to the centre, is 
the natural cause why all the dews and rains, which fall upon 
the island, are conveyed in small rivulets towards the middle, 
where they are emptied into four large basins, each of about 
half a mile in circuit, and two hundred yards distance from 
the centre. From these basins the water is continually 
exhaled by the sun in the day-time, which effectually prevents 
their overflowing. Besides, as it is in the power of the 
monarch to raise the island above the region of clouds and 
vapours, he can prevent the falling of dews and rain when 


282 


gulli\er’s travels. 


ever he pleases. For the highest clouds cannot rise above 
two miles, as naturalists agree, at least they were never known 
to do so in that country. 

At the centre of the island there is a chasm about fifty 
yards in diameter, whence the astronomers descend into a 
large dome, which is therefore called flandona gagnole, or the 
astronomer’s cave, situated at the depth of a hundred yards 
beneath the upper surface of the adamant. In this cave are 
twenty lamps continually burning, which, from the reflection 
of the adamant, cast a strong light into every part. The 
place is stored with great variety of sextants, quadrants, 
telescopes, astrolabes, and other astronomical instruments. 
But the greatest curiosity, upon which the fate of the island 
depends, is a loadstone of prodigious size, in shape resembling 
a weaver’s shuttle. It is in length six yards, and in the thickest 
part at least three yards over. This magnet is sustained by 
a very strong axle of adamant passing through its middle, 
upon which it plays, and is poised so exactly that the weakest 
hand can turn it. It is hooped round with a hollow cylinder 
of adamant, four feet deep, as many thick, and twelve yards 
in diameter, placed horizontally, and supported by eight 
adamantine feet, each six yards high. In the middle of the 
coucave side, there is a groove twelve inches deep, in which 
the extremities of the axle are lodged, and turn round as there 
is occasion. 

The stone cannot be removed from its place by any force, 
because the hoop and its feet are one continued piece with 
that body of adamant which constitutes the bottom of the 
island. 

By means of this loadstone the island is made to rise and 
fall, and move from one place to another. For, with respect 
to that part of the earth over which the monarch presides, the 
stone is endued at one of its sides with an attractive power, 
and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing the magnet 

* • 


A TOY AGE TO LAP 17 T A, ETC. 283 

erect, with its attracting end towards the earth, the island 
descends ; but when the repelling extremity points downwards, 
the island mounts directly upwards. When the position of the 
stone is oblique, the motion of the island is so too : for in this 
magnet, the forces always act in lines parallel to its direction. 

By this oblique motion, the island is conveyed to different 
points of the monarch’s dominions. To explain the manner 
of its progress, let A B represent a line drawn across the 
dominions of Balnibarbi, let the line c d represent the load- 
stone, of which let d be the repelling end, and c the attracting 
end, the island being over C : let the stone be placed in 
position c d with its repelling end downwards ; then the 
island will be driven upwards obliquely towards D. When 
it is arrived at I), let the stone be turned upon its axle, till its 
attracting end points towards E, and then the island will be 
carried obliquely towards E ; where, if the stone be again 
turned upon its axle till it stands in the position E F, with its 
repelling point downwards, the island will rise obliquely 
towards F, where, by directing the attracting end towards G, 
the island may be carried to G, and from G to H, by turning 
the stone so as to make its repelling extremity point directly 
downward. And thus by changing the situation of the stone, 
as often as there is occasion, the island is made to rise and fall 
by turns in an oblique direction, and by those alternate risings 
and fallings (the obliquity being not considerable) is conveyed 
from one part of the dominions to the other. 

But it must be observed, that this land cannot move 
beyond the extent of the dominions below, nor can it rise 
above the height of four miles. For which the astronomers 
(who have written large systems concerning the stone) assign 
the following reason : that the magnetic virtue does not extend 
beyond the distance of four miles, and that the mineral, which 
^cts upon the stone in the bowels of the earth, and in the sea 
^bout six leagues distant from the shore, is not diffused through 

f 


284 


GULLIVER S TRAVEL8. 


the whole globe, but terminated with the limits of the king's 
dominions ; and it was easy, from the great advantage of such 
a superior situation, for a prince to bring under his obedience 
whatever country lay within the attraction of that magnet. 

When the stone is put parallel to the plane of the horizon, 
the island stands still ; for in that case the extremities of it, 
being at equal distance from the earth, act with equal force, 
the one in drawing downwards, and the other in pushing up- 
wards, and consequently no motion can ensue. 

This loadstone is under the care of certain astronomers, 
who, from time to time, give it such positions as the monarch 
directs. They spend the greatest part of their lives in 
observing the celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance 
of glasses, far excelling ours in goodness. For, although their 
largest telescopes do not exceed three feet, they magnify 
much more than those of a hundred with us, and shew the 
stars with greater clearness. This advantage has enabled 
them to extend their discoveries much farther than o.ur astro- 
nomers in Europe ; for they have have made a catalogue of 
ten thousand fixed stars, whereas the largest of ours does 
not contain above one-third part of that number. They have 
likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which re- 
volve about Mars ; whereof the innermost is distant from the 
centre of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, 
and the outermost, five ; the former revolves in the space of 
ten hours, and the latter in twenty-one and a half ; so that 
the squares of their periodical times are very near in the 
same proportion with the cubes of their distance, from the 
centre of Mars ; which evidently shews them to be governed 
by the same law of gravitation that influences the other 
heavenly bodies. 

They have observed ninety-three different comets, and settled 
their periods with great exactness. If this be true (and they 
affirm it with great confidence) it is much to be wished, that 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 285 


**eir observations were made public, whereby the theory of 
comets, which at present is very lame and defective, might 
be brought to the same perfection with other parts of astro- 
nomy. 

The king would be the most absolute prince in the universe, 
if he could but prevail on a ministry to join with him ; but 
these having their estates below on the continent, and con- 
sidering that the office of a favourite has a verj^mcertain 
tenure, would never consent to the enslaving M>f their 
country. 

If anj town should engage in rebellion or mutiny, fall into 
violent factions, or refuse to pay the usual tribute, the king 
has two methods of reducing them to obedience. The first 
and the Eldest course is, by keeping the island 4io.yering 
over suck a town, and the lands about it, whereby he can 
ieprive tLam of the benefit of the sun and the rain, and con- 
sequently afflict the inhabitants with dearth and diseases : 
and if the crime deserve it, they are at the same time pelted 
from abova with great stones, against which they have no 
defence but by creeping into cellars or caves, while the roofs 
of their houses are beaten to pieces. But if they still con- 
tinue obstinate, or offer to raise insurrections, he proceeds to 
the last remedy, by letting the island drop directly upon their 
heads, which makes a universal destruction both of houses 
and men. However, this is an extremity to which the prince 
is seldom driven, neither indeed is he willing to put it in 
execution ; nor dare his ministers advise him to an action, 
which, as it would render them odious to the people, so it 
would be a great damage to their own estates, which lie all 
below ; for the island is the king’s demesne. 

But there is still indeed a more weighty reason, why the 
kings of this country have been always averse from executing 
so terrible an action, unless upon the utmost necessity. For, 
if the town intended to be destroyed should have in it any 


286 


Gulliver’s travels. 

tall rocks, as it generally falls out in the larger cities, a 
situation piobably chosen at first with a view to prevent such 
a catastrophe ; or if it abound in high spires, or pillars of 
stone, a sudden fall might endanger the bottom or under 
surface of the island, which, although it consists, as I have 
said, of one entire adamant, two hundred yards thick, might 
happen to crack by too great a shock, or burst by approach- 
ing too near the fires from the houses below, as the backs, 
both oj*'Won and stone, will often do in our chimneys. Of all 
thi§ theypeople are well apprized, and understand how far to 
carry their obstinacy, where their liberty or property is con- 
cerned. And the king, when he is highest provoked, and 
most determined to press a city to rubbish, orders the island 
to descend with great gentleness, out of a pretence of tender- 
ness to his people, but, indeed, for fear of breaking the 
adamantine bottom ; in which case, it is the opinion of all 
their philosophers, that the loadstone could no longer hold it 
up, and the whole mass w r ould fall to the ground. 

By a fundamental law of this realm, neither the king, noi 
either of his two eldest sons, are permitted to leave thu 
island ; nor the queen, till she is past child bearing. 



I * 


A TOTAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC 287 




CHAPTER IV. 

V 

The Author leaves Laputa ; is conveyed to Balnibarbi ; arrives at the metropolis 
— A description vif the metropolis, and the country adjoining — The Author hos- 
pitably received by a great lord — His conversation with that lord. 


Although I cannot say that I was ill treated in this island, 
yet I must confess I thought myself too much neglected, not 
without some degree of contempt; for neither prince nor 
people appeared to he curious in any part of knowledge, 
except mathematics and music, wherein I was far their 
inferior, and upon that account very little regarded. 

On the other side, after having seen all the curiosities of 
the island, I was very desirous to leave it, being heartily 
weary of those people. They were indeed excellent in two 
sciences for which I have great esteem, and wherein I am not 
unversed ; but at the same time, so abstracted and involved 
in speculation, that I never met with such disagreeable com- 
panions. I conversed only with women, tradesmen, flappers, 
and court-pages, during two months of my abode there, by 
which, at last, I rendered myself extremely contemptible; 
yet these were the only people from whom I could ever receive 
a reasonable answer. 

I had obtained, by hard study, a good degree of knowledge 
in their language : I was weary of being confined to an island, 
where I received so little countenance, and resolved to leave 
it with the first opportunity. 

There was a great lord at the court, nearly related to the 
king, and for that reason alone used with respect. He wa* 


288 


Gulliver’s travels. 


universally reckoned the most ignorant and stupid person 
among them. He had performed many eminent services for 
the crown, had great natural and acquired parts, adorned with 
integrity and honour ; but so ill an ear for music, that his 
detractors reported, “ he had been often known to beat time 
in the wrong place neither could his tutors, without extreme 
difficulty, teach him to demonstrate the most easy proposi- 
tions in the mathematics. He was pleased to show me many 
marks of favour, often did me the honour of a visit, desired 
to be informed in the affairs of Europe, the laws and customs, 
the manners and learning of the several countries where I 
had travelled. He listened to me with great attention, and 
made very wise observations on all I spoke. He had two 
flappers attending him for state, but never made use of them 
except at court and in visits of ceremony ; and would always 
command them to withdraw, when we were alone together. 

I entreated with this illustrious person to intercede in my 
behalf with his majesty, for leave to depart; which he 
accordingly did, as he was pleased to tell me, with regret : 
for indeed he had made me several offers, very advantageous, 
which however I refused, with expressions of the highest 
acknowledgment. 

On the 16th of February I took leave of his majesty and 
the court. The king made me a present to the value of 
about two hundred pounds English, and my protector, his 
kinsman, as much more, together with a letter of recommen- 
dation to a friend of his in Lagado, the metropolis: the 
island being then hovering over a mountain about two miles 
from it, I was let down from the lowest gallery, in the same 
manner as I had been taken up. 

The continent, as far as it is subject to the monarch of the 
flying island, passes under the general name of Balnibarbi ; 
and the metropolis, as I said before, is called Lugado. I felt 
some little satisfaction in finding myself on firm ground. I 


2S9 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 

walked to the city without any concern, being clad like one 
>f the natives, and sufficiently instructed to converse with 
them. I soon found out the person’s house, to whom I was 
recommended, presented my letter from his friend the grandee 
in the island, and was received with much kindness. This 
great lord, whose name was Munodi, ordered me an apart- 
ment in his own house, where I continued during my stay, 
and was entertained in a most hospitable manner. 

The next morning after my arrival, he took me in his 
chariot to see the town, which is about half the bigness of 
London ; but the houses very strangely built, and most of 
them out of repair. The people in the streets walked fast, 
looked wild, their eyes fixed, and were generally in rags. 
We passed through one of the town gates, and went about 
three miles into the country, where I saw many labourers 
working with several sorts of tools in the ground, but was not 
able to conjecture what they were about; neither did I 
observe any expectation either of corn or grass, although the 
soil appeared to be excellent. I could not forbear admiring 
it these odd appearances, both in town and country ; and I 
made bold to desire my conductor, that he would be pleased 
to explain to me, what could be meant by so many busy 
heads, hands, and faces, both in the streets and in the fields, 
because I did not discover any good effects they produced ; 
but, on the contrary, I never knew a soil so unhappily culti- 
vated, houses so ill contrived and so ruinous, or a people 
whose countenances and habits expressed so much misery 
and want. 

This Lord Munodi was a person of the first rank, and had 
been some years governor of Lagado ; but by a cabal of min- 
isters, was discharged for inefficiency. However, the king 
treated him with tenderness, as a well-meaning man, but of a 
’ow contemptible understanding. 

When I gave that free censure of the country and its inhab- 
13 


290 


Gulliver’s travels. 


itants, he made no farther answer than by telling me, “ that 
I had not been long enough among them to form a judg- 
ment; and that the different nations of the world had diffe- 
rent customs ; ” with other common topics to the same pur- 
pose. But when we returned to his palace, he asked me, 
“how I liked the building, what absurdities I observed, and 
what quarrel I had with the dress or looks of his domes- 
tics.” This he might safely do ; because every thing about 
him was magnificent, regular, and polite. I answered, “ that 
his excellency’s prudence, quality and fortune, had exempted 
him from those defects, which folly and beggary had produc- 
ed in others.” He said, “ if I would go with him to bis coun- 
try-house, about twenty miles distant, where his estate lay, 
there would be more leisure for this kind of conversation.” I 
told his excellency “ that I was entirely at his disposal,” and 
accordingly we set out next morning. 

During our journey he made me observe the several me- 
thods used by farmers in managing their lands, which to me 
were wholly unaccountable; for except in some very few 
places, I could not discover one ear of corn, or blade of grass. 
But, in three hours’ travelling, the scene was wholly altered ; 
we came into a most beautiful- country : farmers’ houses, at 
small distances, neatly built ; the fields enclosed, containing 
vineyards, corn-grounds, and meadows. Neither do I remem- 
ber to have seen a more delightful prospect. His excellency 
observed my countenance to clear up; he told me with a 
sigh, “ that there • his estate began, and would continue the 
same, till we should come to his house, that his countrymen 
ridiculed and despised him for managing his affairs no better, 
and for setting so'ill an example to the kingdom ; which how- 
ever, was followed by very few, such as were old, and wilful, 
and weak like himself.” 

We came at length to the house, which was indeed a 
noble structure, built according to the best rules of ^rchitec- 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 291 

ture. The fountains, gardens, walks, avenues, and groves, 
were all disposed with exact judgment and taste. I gave due 
praise to every thing I saw, whereof his excellency took not 
the least notice till after supper ; when, there being no third 
companion, he told me with a very melancholy air “ that he 
doubted he must throw down his houses in town and country 
to rebuild them after the present mode ; destroy all his plan- 
tations, and cast others into such a form as modern usage 
required, and give the same directions to all his tenants unless 
he would submit to incur the censure of pride, singularity, 
affectation, ignorance, caprice, and perhaps increase his 
majesty’s displeasure ; that the admiration I appeared to be 
under would cease or diminish, when he had informed me of 
some particulars which probably I never heard of at court ; 
the people there being too much taken up in their own spec- 
ulations, to have regard to what passed here below.” 

The sum of his discourse was to this effect : “ that about 
forty years ago, certain persons went up to Laputa, either 
upon business or diversion, and, after five months’ continuance, 
came back with a very little smattering in mathematics, but 
full of volatile spirits, acquired in that airy region : that these 
persons, upon their return, began to dislike the management 
of everything below, and fell into schemes of putting all arts, 
sciences, languages, and mechanics, upon a new foot. To this 
ejad, they procured a royal patent for erecting an academy 
of projectors in Lagado ; and the humour prevailed so strongly 
among the people, that there is not a town of anv consequence 
in the kingdom without such an academy. In these colleges 
the professors contrive new rules and methods of agriculture 
and building, and new instruments and tools for all trades and 
manufactures ; whereby, as they undertake one man shall do 
the work of ten, a palace may be built in a week, of materials 
so durable as to last for ever without repairing. All the fruits 
of thf earth shall come to maturity at whatever season we 


292 


Gulliver’s travels. 


think fit to choose, and increase a hundred fold more than they 
do at present ; with innumerable other happy proposals. The 
only inconvenience is, that none of these projects are yet 
brought to perfection ; and in the mean time, the whole country 
lies miserably waste, the houses in ruins, and the people without 
food or clothes. By all which, instead of being discouraged, 
they are fifty times more violently bent upon prosecuting their 
schemes, driven equally on by hope and despair : that as for 
himself, being not of an enterprising spirit, he was content to 
go on in the old forms, to live in the house his ancestors had 
built, and act as they did, in every part of life, without innova- 
tion : that some few other persons of quality and gentry had 
done the same, but were looked on with an eye of contempt 
and ill-will, as enemies to art, ignorant, and ill common-wealth’s 
men, preferring their own ease and sloth before the general 
improvement of their country.” 

His lordship added, “ that he would not, by any farther 
particulars, prevent the pleasure I should certainly take in 
viewing the grand academy, whither he was resolved I should 
go.” He only desired me to observe a ruined building, upon 
the side of a mountain about three miles distant, of which he 
gave me this account: “that he had a very convenient mill 
within half a mile of his house, turned by a current from a 
large river, and sufficient for his own family, as well as a great 
number of his tenants ; that about seven years ago, a club of 
those projectors came to him with proposals to destroy this 
mill, and build another on the side of that mountain, on the 
long ridge whereof a long canal must be cut, for a repository 
of water, to be conveyed up by pipes and engines, to supply 
the mill : because the wind and air upon a height agitated the 
water, and thereby made it fitter for motion ; and because the 
water, descending down a declivity, would turn the mill with 
half the current of a river, whose course is more upon a level.” * 
He said, “ that being then not very well with the court, and 


A VOYAGE TO LAP TA, ETC. 21)3 

pressed by many of liis frie ds. he complied with the proposal : 
and after employing a hundred men for two years, the work 
miscarried, the projecto ' mt laying die blame entirely 
upon him, railing at him ever since, and putting others upon 
the same experiment, with equal assurance of success, as well 
as equal disappointment.” 

In a few days we came back to town ; and his excellency, 
considering the bad character he had in the academy, would 
not go with me himself, but recommended me to a friend of 
Lis, to bear me company thither. My lord was pleased to 
represent me as a great admirer of projects, and a person of 
much curiosity and easy belief : which, indeed was not 
without truth: for I had myself been a sort of projector in my 
vounger days. 


294 


GULLIYEfi’e 


A VELS, 


CHAPTER. V. 

The Author permitted to see the grand academy of Lag&do— The academy large'J 
described— The arts wherein the professors employ themselves. 


This academy is not an entire single building, b it a con- 
tinuation of several houses on both sides of a street, which . 
growing waste, was purchased and applied to that use. 

I was received very kindly by the warden, and went for 
many days to the academy. Every room has in it one or 
more projectors ; and I believe I could not be in fewer than 
five hundred rooms. 

The first man I saw was of a meagre aspect, with sooty 
hands and face, his hair and beard long, ragged, and singed 
in several places. His clothes, shirt, and skin, were all of 
the same colour. He had been eight years upon a project for 
extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put 
in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air 
in raw inclement summers. He told me, he did ndt d.<\bt, 
that in eight years more, he should be able V supply the 
governor’s gardens with sunshine, at a reasonable rate ; but 
he complained that his stock was low, and entreated me “ to 
give him something as an encouragement to ingenuity, 
especially since this had been a very dear season for cucum- 
bers.” 1 made him a small present, for my lord had furnished 
me with money on purpose, because he knew their practice of 
begging from all who go to see them. 

I went into another chamber, but was ready to hasten back, 


A VOYAGE 'I'O LAPUTA, ETC. 295 

being almost overcome with a horrible stink. My conductor 
pressed me forward, conjuring me in a whisper “ to give no 
offence, which would be highly resented and therefore I durst 
not so much as stop my nose. The projector of this cell was the 
most ancient student of the academy ; his face and beard were 
of a pale yellow ; his hands and clothes daubed over with filth. 
When I was presented to him, he gave me a close embrace ; 
a compliment I could well have excused. Ilis employment, 
from his first coming into the academy, was an operation to 
reduce human excrement to its original food, by separating 
the several parts, removing the tincture which it receives from 
the gall, making the odour exhale, and scumming off the 
saliva. He had a weekly allowance, from the society, of a 
vessel filled with human ordure, about the bigness of a Bristol 
barrel. 

I saw another at work to calcine ice into gunpowder ; who 
likewise shewed me a treatise he had written concerning the 
malleability of fire, which he intended to publish. 

There was a most ingenious architect, who had contrived 
a new method for building houses, by beginning at the roof 
and working downward to the foundation ; which he justified 
to me, by the like practice of those two prudent insects, the 
bee and the spider. 

There was a man born blind, who had several apprentices 
in his own condition : their employment was to mix colours 
for painters, which their masters taught them to distinguish, 
by feeling and smelling. It was indeed my misfortune to find 
them at that time not very perfect in their lessons, and the 
professor himself happened to be generally mistaken. This 
artist is much encouraged and esteemed by the whole frater 
/ nity. 

In another apartment, I was highly pleased with a projector 
who had found a device of ploughing the ground witl hooss, 
to save the charges of ploughs, cattle, and labour. ' ' 


296 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 




is this : in an acre of ground you bury, at six inches’ dis 
tance and eight deep, a quantity of acorns, dates, chesnuts, 
and other mast or vegetables, whereof these animals are 
fondest ; then you drive six hundred of them into the field, 
where, in a few days, they will root up the whole ground in 
search of their feed, and make it fit for sowing, at the same 
time manuring it with their dung: it is true, upon experiment, 
they found the charge and trouble very great, and they had 
little or no crop. However, it is not doubted, that his inven- 
tion may be capable of great improvement. 

I went into another room, where the walls and ceiling were 
all hung round with cobwebs, except a narrow passage for the 
artist to go in and out. At my entrance he called aloud to 
me, “ not to disturb his webs.” He lamented “ the fatal mistake 
the world had been so long in, of using silk worms, while we 
h-ad such plenty of domestic insects who infinitely excelled 
the former, because they understood how to weave, as well as 
spin.” And he proposed farther, “that by employing spiders, 
the charge of dyeing silk should be wholly saved whereof I 
was fully convinced, when he shewed me a vast number of 
flies most beautifully coloured, wherewith he fed his spiders, 
assuring us “ that the webs would take a tincture from them ; 
and as he had had them of all hues, he hoped to fit every 
body’s fancy, as soon as he could find proper food for the flies, 
certain of gums, oils, and other glutinous matter, to give a 
strength and consistence to the threads.” 

There was an astronomer, who had undertaken to place a 
sun-dial upon the great weathercock on the town-house, by 
adjusting the annual and diurnal motions of the earth and sun, 
so as to answer and coincide with all accidental turnings of 
the wind. 

I was complaining of a small fit of the colic, upon which my 
conductor led me into a room where a great physician resided, 
who was famous for curing that disease, by contrary operations 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 297 

from the same instrument. He had a large pair of bellows, 
with a long slender muzzle of ivory ; this he conveyed eight 
inches up the anus, and drawing in the wind, he affirmed he 
could make the guts as lank as a dried bladder. But when 
the disease was more stubborn and violent, he let in the muzzle 
while the bellows were full of wind, which he discharged into 
the body of the patient; then withdrew the instrument to 
replenish it, clapping his thumb strongly against the orifice of 
the fundament; and this being repeated three or four times, 
the adventitious wind would rush out, bringing the noxious 
along with it (like water put into a pump), and the patient 
recovered. I saw him try both experiments upon a dog, but 
could not discern any effect from the former. After the latter, 
the animal was ready to burst, and made so violent a dis- 
charge as was very offensive to me and my companion. The 
dog died on the spot, and we left the doctor endeavouring to 
recover him, by the same operation. 

1 visited many other apartments, but shall not trouble my 
reader with all the curiosities I observed, being studious of 
brevity. 

I had hitherto seen only one side of the academy, the other 
being appropriated to the advancers of speculative learning, 
of whom I shall say something, when I have mentioned one 
illustrious person more, who is called among them “the univer- 
sal artist.” He told us “he had been thirty years employing 
his thoughts for the improvement of human life.” He had 
two large rooms full of wonderful curiosities, and fifty men at 
work. Some were condensing air into a dry tangible sub- 
stance, by extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or 
fluid particles percolate ; others softening marble, for pillows 
and pin-cushions ; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, 
to preserve them from foundering. The artist himself was at 
that time busy upon two great designs ; the first, to sow land 
with ffiaff, wherein he affirmed the true seminal virtue to be 

13 * 


298 


GULLIVEK'8 TRAVELS. 


contained, as he demonstrated bj several experiments, which I 
was not skilful enough to comprehend. The other was, by a 
certain composition of gums, minerals, and vegetable, out- 
wardly applied, to prevent the growth of wool upon two young 
lambs ; and he hoped, in a reasonable time, to propagate the 
breed of naked sheep, all over the kingdom. 

We crossed a walk to the other part of the academy, where, 
as I have already said, the projectors in speculative learning 
resided. 

The first professor I saw was in a very large room, with 
forty pupils about him. After salutation, observing me to 
look earnestly upon a frame, which took up the greatest part 
of both the length and breadth of the room, he said, “Perhaps 
I might wonder to see him employed in a project for improv- 
ing speculative knowledge, by practical and mechanical oper- 
ations. But the world would soon be sensible of its usefulness; 
and he flattered himself, that a more noble exalted thought 
never sprang in any other man’s head. Every one knew how 
laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; 
whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant person, at a 
reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might 
write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws mathematics, 
and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study.” 
He then led me to the frame, about the sides whereof all his 
pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty feet square, placed in 
the middle of the room. The superficies was composed of 
several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some 
larger than others. They were all linked together by slender 
vires. These bits of wood were covered, on every square, with 
paper pasted on them; on these papers were written all the 
words of their language, in their several moods, tenses, and, 
declensions ; but without any order. The professor then desired 
me “ to observe ; for he was going to set his engine at work.” 
The pupils, at his command, took each of them hold of an iroD 


A VOYAGE TO LAl'UTA, ETC. 


299 


nandle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges o be 
frame ; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole dispos 
of the words was entirely changed. He then commanded six- 
and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they 
appeared on the frame ; and where they found three or four 
words together that might make part of a sentence they dic- 
tated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes. This 
work was repeated three or four times ; and at every turn, the 
the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new 
places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down. 

Six hours a day the young students were employed in this 
labour ; and the professor shewed me several volumes in large 
folio, already collected of broken sentences, which he intended 
to piece together, and out of these rich materials, to give 
the world a complete body of all arts and sciences; which, 
however, might be still improved and much expedited, if the 
public would raise a fund for making and employing five hun- 
dred such frames in Lagado, and oblige the managers to con- 
tribute in common their several collections. 

He assured me “ that t^Le invention had employed all his 
thoughts from his youth ; that he had entered the whole 
vocabulary into his frame, and made the strictest computation 
of the general proportion there is in books between the num- 
bers of particles, nouns, and verbs, and other parts of speech.” 

I made my humblest acknowledgement to this illustrious 
person, for his great communicativeness ; and promised, “ if 
evpr I had the good fortune to return to my native country, 
that I would ,do him justice, as the sole inventor of this won- 
derful machine ; ” the form and contrivance of which I desired 
leave to delineate on paper, as in the figure here annexed. I 
told him, “ although it was the custom of our. learned in 
Europe to steal inventions from each other, who had thereby 
at least this advantage, that it became a controversv which 


300 


Gulliver’s travels. 


tlie right owner; yet I would take such caution, that ha 
sit uld have the honour entire without a rival.” 

We next went to the school of languages where three pro- 
fessors sat in consultation upon improving that of their own 
country. 

The first project was, to shorten discourse, by cutting poly 
syllables into one, and leaving out verbs and participles; 
because, in reality, all things imaginable are but nouns. 

The other project was, a scheme for entirely abolishing all 
words whatsoever ; and this was urged as a great advantage 
in point of health, as well as brevity. For it is plain, that 
every word we speak, is in some degree, a diminution of our 
lungs by corrosion ; and consequently contributes to the short- 
ening our lives. An expedient was therefore offered, “that 
since words are only names for things, it would be more 
convenient for all men to carry about them such things as 
were necessary to express a particular business they are to 
discourse on.” And this invention would certainly have 
taken place, to the great ease as well as health of the subject, 
if the women, in conjunction with the vulgar and illiterate, 
had not threatened to raise a rebellion unless they might be 
allowed the liberty to speak with their tongues after the 
manner of their forefathers ; such constant irreconcilable 
enemies to science are the common people. However, many 
of the most learned and wise adhere to the new scheme of 
expressing themselves by things ; which has only this incon- 
venience attending it, that if a man’s business be very great, 
and of various kinds, he must be obliged, in proportion, 
to carry a greater bundle of things upon his back, unless he 
can afford one or two strong servants to attend him. I have 
often behqjd two of these sages almost sinking under the 
weight of their packs, like pedlars among us ; who, when 
they met in the street, would lay dow'4 their loads, open their 
packs, and hold conversation for an hour t- thcr: then 


A TOY 


T I.APUTA, ETC. 


301 


put up their implements, help each other to resume their 
burdens, and take their leave. 

But for short conversations, a man may carry implements 
in his pockets, and under his arms, enough to supply him ; 
and in his house, he cannot be at a loss. Therefore the room 
where company meet to practise this art, is full of all things, 
ready at hand, requisite to furnish matter for this kind of 
artificial converse. 

Another great advantage proposed by this invention, was 
that it would serve a universal language, to be understood in 
all civilized nations, whose goods and utensils are generally 
of the same kind, or nearly resembling, so that their uses 
might- easily be comprehended. And thus ambassadors would 
be qualified to treat with foreign princes, or ministers of state 
to whose tongues they were utter strangers. 

I was at the mathematical school, where the master 
taught his pupils after a method scarce imaginable to us in 
Europe. The proposition, and demonstration, were fairly 
written on a thin wafer, with ink composed of a cephalic 
tincture. This the student was to swallow upon a fasting 
stomach, and for three days following eat nothing but bread 
and water. As the wafer digested, the tincture mounted to his 
brain, bearing the proposition along with it. But the success 
has not hitherto been answerable, partly by some error in the 
quantum or composition, and partly by the perverseness of 
lads, to whom this bolus is so nauseous, that they generally 
steal aside, and discharge it upwards, before it can operate; 
neither have they yet been persuaded to use so long an absti- 
nence as the prescription requires. 


302 


G U L i I % t K S L 8. 


CHAPTER VI. 


A further account of the academy — The Author proposes some improvements, 
which are honourably received. 


In the school of political projectors, I was but ill entertain- 
ed ; the professors appearing, in my judgment, wholly out of 
their senses ; which is a scene that never fails to make me 
melancholy. These unhappy people rfere proposing schemes 
for persuading monarchs to choose favourites upon the score 
of their wisdom, capacity, and virtue ; of teaching ministers 
to consult the public good ; of rewarding^nerit, great abilk’es, 
and eminent services ; of instructing princes to know their 
true interest, by placing it on the same foundation with that 
of their people ; of choosing for employments, persons qualified 
to exercise them ; with many other wild impossible chimeras, 
that never entered before into the heart of a man to conceive ; 
and confirmed in me the old observation, “ that there is noth- 
ing so extravagant and irrational, which some philosophers 
. have not maintained for truth.” 

But, however, I shall so far do justice to this part of the 
academy, as to acknowledge that all of them were not so 
visionary. There was a most ingenious doctor, who seemed 
to be perfectly versed in the whole nature and system of 
government. This illustrious person had very usefully 
n ployed his studies, in finding o 

ses and corruptions, to which the sev- 
adun ’ tration are subject , by the vices or infirmities 


303 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 

who govern, as well as by the licentiousness of those who are 
to obey. For instance ; whereas all writers and reasoners 
have agreed, that there is a strict universal resemblance 
between the natural and the political body ; can there be 
any thing more evident, than that thejhealth of both must be 
preserved, and the disease cured, by the same prescriptions ? 
It is allowed, that senates and great councils are often troubled 
with redundant, ebullient, and other peccant humours ; with 
many diseases of the head, and more of the heart ; with 
strong convulsions, with grievous contractions of the nerves 
and sinews in both hands, but especially the right ; with 
spleen, flatus, vertigoes, and deliriums ; with scrofulous 
tumours, full of fetid purulent matter; with sour frothy 
eructations ; with canine appetites, and crudeness of digestion, 
besides many others, needless to mention. This doctor there - 
fore proposed, 11 that upon the meeting of the senate, certain 
physicians should attend at the three first days of their sit- 
ting, and at the close of each day’s debate feel the pulses of 
e\vry senator ; after which, having maturely considered and 
consulted upon the nature of the several maladies, and the 
methods of cure, they should on the fourth day return to 
the senate-house, attended by their apothecaries stored with 
pr. p^>r medicines ; and before the members sat, administer to 
each of them lenitives, aperients, abstersives, corrosives, 
restringents, palliatives, laxatives, cephalalgics, icterics, aph- 
plilegmatics, acoustics, as their several cases required ; and, 
according as these medicines should operate, repeat, alter, or 
omit them, at the next meeting.” 

This project could not be of any great expense to the pub- 
lic ; and might, in my poor opinion, be of much use for the 
dispatch of business, in • those countries where senates have 
any share in the legislative power; beget unanimity, shorten 
debates, open a few mouths which are now closed, and close 
many moro which are now open ; curb the petulancy of the 


304 


qtjlliyer’s travels. 


young, and correct the positiveness of the old ; rouse the 
stupid, and damp the pert. 

Again : because it is a general complaint, that the favour- 
ites of princes are troubled with short and weak memories ; 
the same doctor proposed, “that whoever attended a first 
minister, after having told his business, with the utmost brevity 
and in the plainest words, should, at his departure, give the 
said minister a tweak by the nose, or a kick on the belly, or 
tread on his corns, or lug him twice by both ears, or run a 
pin into his breech, or pinch his arm black and blue, to prevent 
forgetfulness; and at every levee day to repeat the same 
operation, till the business were done, or absolutely refused.” 

He likewise directed, “ that every senator in the great coun- 
cil of a nation, after he had delivered his opinion and argued 
in the defence of it, should be obliged to give his vote directly 
contrary ; because if that were done, the result would infal- 
libly terminate in the good of the public.” 

When parties in a state are violent, he offered a wonderful 
contrivance to reconcile them. The method is this : you take 
a hundred leaders of each party; you dispose them into 
couples of such whose heads are nearest of a size ; then let 
two nice operators saw off the occiput of each couple at the 
same time, in such a manner, that the brain may be equally 
divided. Let the occiputs, thus cut off, be interchanged, 
applying each to the head of his opposite party-man. It 
seems indeed to be a work that requires some exactness, but 
the professor assured us, “ that if it were dexterously performed, 
the cure would be infallible.” For he argued thus : “ that the 
two half brains being left to debate the matter between them- 
selves within the space of one skull, would soon come to a 
good understanding ; and produce that moderation, as well as 
regularity of thinking, so much to be wished for in the heads 
of those, who imagine they come into the world only to watch 
and govern its motion : and as to the difference of brains, ir 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 305 


quantity or quality, among those who ard directors in faction/' 
the doctor assured us, from his own knowledge, “ that it was 
a perfect trifle.” 

I heard a very warm debate between two professors, about 
the most commodious and effectual ways and means of raising 
money, without grieving the subject. The first affirmed, “ the 
justest method would be, to lay a certain tax upon vices and 
folly ; and the sum fixed upon every man to be rated, after 
the fairest manner, by a jury of his neighbours.” The second 
was of an opinion directly contrary ; “ to tax those qualities 
of body and mind, for which men chiefly value themselves .• 
the rate to be more or less, according to the degrees of 
excelling ; the decision whereof should be left entirely to their 
own breast.” The highest tax was upon men who are the 
greatest favourites of the other sex, and the assessments, 
according to the number and nature of the favours they have 
received ; for which, they are allowed to be their own vouch- 
ers. Wit, valour, and politeness, were likewise proposed to 
be largely taxed, and collected in the same manner, by every 
person’s giving his own word for the quantum of what he 
possessed. But as to honour, justice, wisdom, and learning, 
they should not be taxed at all ; because they are qualifications 
of so singular a kind, that no man will either allow them in 
his neighbour or value them in himself. 

The women were proposed to be taxed according to their 
beauty and skill in dressing, wherein they had the same 
privilege with the men, to be determined by their own judg- 
ment. But constancy, chastity, good sense, and good nature, 
were not rated, because they would not bear the charge of 
colie jting. 

To keep senators in the interest of the crown, it was pro- 
posed that the members shall raffle for employments ; every 
man first taking an oath, and giving security, that he would 
vote for the court, whether he won cr not ; after which 


306 


Gulliver’s travels. 


the losers had, in their turn, the liberty of raffling upon the 
next vacancy. Thus, hope and expectation would be kept 
alive ; none would complain of broken promises, but impute 
their disappointments wholly to fortune, whose shoulders are 
broader and stronger than those of a ministry. 

Another professor showed me a large paper of instructions 
for discovering plots and conspiracies against the government, 
lie advised great statesmen to examine into the diet of all 
• suspected persons; their times of eating; upon which side 
they lay in bed ; with which hand they wiped their posteriors ; 
take a strict view of their excrements, and from the colour, 
the odour, the taste, the consistence, the crudeness or maturity 
of digestion, form a judgment of their thoughts and designs ; 
because men are never so serious, thoughtful, and intent, as 
when they are at stool, which he found by experience : for, 
in such conjunctures, when he used, merely as a trial, to con- 
sider which was the best way of murdering' the king, his 
ordure would have a tincture of green : but quite different 
when he thought only of raising an insurrection, or burning 
the metropolis. 

The whole discourse was written with great acuteness 
containing many observations, both curious and useful for 
politicians ; but, as I conceived, not altogether complete. 
This I ventured to tell the author, and offered, if he pleased 
to supply him with some additions. He received my pro- 
position with more compliance than is usual among writers, ^ 
especially those of the projecting species ; professing “ h<* 
would be glad to receive further information.” 

I told him, “ that in the kingdom of Tribnia, by the natives 
called Langden, where I had sojourned some time in m 
travels, the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly oi ] 
discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evi- ,1 
dences, swearers, together with their several subservient and | 
subaltern instruments, all under the colours, the contract, and f 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 307 


the pay of ministers of state, and their deputies. The plots, 
in that kingdom, are usually the workmanship of those per- 
sons who desire to raise their own characters of profound 
politicians ; to restore new vigour to a crazy administration ; 
to stifle or divert general discontents ; to fill their coffers with 
forfeitures ; and raise or sink the opinion of public credit, as 
either shall answer their private advantage. It is first agreed 
and settled among them, what susp^pted persons shall be 
accused of a plot ; then effectual care is taken to secure all 
their letters and papers, and put the owners in chains. These 
papers are delivered to a set of artists, very dexterous in 
finding out the mysterious meanings of words, syllables, and 
letters: for instance, they can discover a close stool, to signify 
a privy-council ; a flock of geese, a senate ; a lame dog,* an 
invader ; the plague, a. standing army ; a buzzard, a prime 
minister ; the gout, a high priest ; a gibbet, a secretary of 
state ; a chamber-pot, a committee of grandees ; a sieve, a 
court lady ; a broom a revolution ; a mouse- trap, an employ- 
ment ; a bottomless pit, a treasury ; a sink, a court ; a cap, 
and bells, a favourite ; a broken reed, a court of justice ; an 
■ empty tun, a general ; a running sore, the administration. 

• 44 When this method fails, they have two others 

tual, which the learned among them call acrostic aid ana- 
grams. First, they can decipher all initial letters politi- 
cal meanings. Thus, N shall signify a plot; JB, a 

of horse ; Z, a fleet at sea : or secondly, by tram 
letters of the alphabet in any suspected paper, th Uy 

I open the deepest designs of a discontented part y . v h>, for 
example, if I should say in a letter to a friend, ‘ C * broth r 
1 Tom has just got the piles,’ a skilful decipherer would dis- 
cover, that the same letters which compose that sentence, 

* See the proceedings against Dr. Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, in the State 
| Trials, V'd. vi. — H. 

I 


308 GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 

may be analyzed into the following words, 4 Resist — a plot is 
brought home — The tour.’ And this is the anagrammatic 
method.” 

The professor made me great acknowledgments for com- 
municating these observations, and promised to make honour- 
able mention of me in his treatise. 

I saw nothing in this country that could invite me to a lon- 
ger continuance, and^egan to think of returning home to 
England. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 


CHAPTER. YII. 

Author leaves Lagado, arrives at Maldonada — No ship ready — He takes a 
voyage to Glubbdubdrib — His reception by the governor. 

The continent, of which this kingdom is a part, extends 
itself as I have reason to believe, eastward, to that unknown 
tract of America westward of California ; and north to the 
Pacific Ocean, which is not above a hundred and fifty miles 
from Lagado ; where there is a good port, and much com- 
merce with the great island of Luggnagg, situated to the 
north-west about 29 degrees north latitude, and 140 longi- 
tude. This island of Luggnagg stands south-eastward of 
Japan, about a hundred leagues distant. There is a strict al- 
liance between the Japanese emperor and the king of Lugg- 
nagg ; which affords frequent opportunities of sailing from one 
island to the other. I determined therefore to direct my course 
this way, in order to my return to Europe. I hired two 
mules, with a guide to show me the way, and carry my small 
baggage. I took leave of my noble protecter who had shewn 
me so much favour, and made me a generous present at my 
departure. 

My journey was without any accident or adventure worth 
relating. When I arrived at the port of Maldonada (for so it 
is called) there was no ship in the harbour bound for Lugg- 
nagg, nor likely to be in some time. The town is about as 
large as Portsmouth. I soon fell into some acquaintance, and 
was very hospitably received. A gentleman of distinction 


310 


gullivek’s travels. 


*n id to mo “that since the ships bound for Luggnagg could 
not be ready in less than a month, it might be no disagreeable 
amusement for me to take a trip to the little island of Glubb- 
dubdrib, about five leagues off to the south-west.” He offered 
himself and a friend to accompany me, and that I should be 
provided with a small convenient bark for the voyage. 

Glubbdubdrib, as near as I can interpret the word, signifies 
the island of sorcerers or magicians. It is about one-third 
as large as the Isle of Wight, and extremely fruitful : it is 
governed by the head of a certain tribe, who are all magi- 
cians. This tribe marries only among each other, and the 
eldest in succession is prince or governor. lie has a noble 
palace, and a park of about three thousand acres, surrounded 
by a wall of hewn stone twenty feet high. In this park are 
several small enclosures for cattle, corn, and gardening. 

The governor and his family are served and attended by 
domestics of a kind somewhat unusal. By his skill in necro- 
mancy, he has a power of calling whom he pleases from the 
dead, and commanding their service for twenty-four hours, 
but no longer ; nor can he call the same persons up again in 
less than three months, except upon very extraordinary occa- 
sions. 

When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in 
the morning, one of the gentlemen who accompanined me 
went to the governor, and desire admittance for a stranger, 
who came on purpose to have the honour of attending on his 
highness. This was immediately granted, and we all three 
entered the gate of the palace between two rows of 
guards armed and dressed after a very antick manner, and 
something in their countenances that made my flesh creep with 
a horror I cannot express. We passed through several apart- 
ments, between servants of the same sort, ranked on each side 
as before, till we came to the chamber of presence; where, 
after three profound obeisances, and a few general questions, 


A. VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 311 


we were permitted to sit on three stools, near the lowest step 
of his highness’s throne. He understood the language of 
Balinbarbi, although it was different from that of this island. 
He desired me to give him some account of my travels ; and, 
to let me see that I should be treated without ceremony, he 
dismissed all his attendants with a turn of his finger ; at which, to 
my great astonishment, they Vanished in an instant, like visions 
in a dream when we awake on a sudden. I could r.ot recover 
myself in some time till the governor assured me, “ that I should 
receive no hurt and observing my two companions to be under 
no concern, who had been often entertained in the same manner, 
I began to take courage, and related to his highness a short his- 
tory of my several adventures, yet not without some hesitation, 
and frequently looking behind me to the place where I had seen 
those domestic spectres. I had the honour to dine with the 
governor, where a new set of ghosts served up the meat, and 
waited at table. I now observed myself to be less terrified 
than I had been in the mornig. I strayed till sunset, but 
humbly desired his highness to excuse me for not accepting 
his invitation of lodging in the palace. My two friends and 
I lay at a private house in the town adjoining, which is the 
capital of this little island ; and the next morning we retured to 
pay our duty to the governor as he was pleased to command 
us. 

After this manner we continued in the island for ten days, 
most part of every day with the governor, and at night in 
our lodging. I soon grew so familiarized to the sight of 
spirits, that after the third or fourth time they gave me no 
emotion at all ; or if I had any apprehensions left, my curiosity 
prevailed over them. For his highness the governor ordered 
me to call up whatever persons I would choose to name, and 
in whatever numbers, among all the dead from the beginning 
of the world to the present time, and command them to answer 
any questions I should think fit to ask ; with this condition 


312 


Gulliver’s travels. 


that ray questions must be confined within the compass of the 
times they lived in. And one thing I might depend upon, 
that they would certainly tell me the truth, for lying was a 
talent of no use in the lower world. 

I made my humble acknowledgments to his highness for 
so great a favour. We were in a chamber, from whence 
there was a fair prospect into the park. And because my 
first inclination was to be entertained with scenes of pomp and 
magnificence, I desired to see Alexander the Great at the 
head of his army, just after the battle of Arbela : which, upon 
a motion of the governor’s finger, immediately appeared in a 
large field, under the window where we stood. Alexander 
was called up into the room ; it was with great difficulty that 
I understood his Greek,* and had but little of my own. He 
assured me upon his honour, that he wa9»not poisoned, but died 
of a bad fever by excessive drinking.f 

Next, I saw Hannibal passing the Alps, who told me, “ he 
had not a drop of vinegar in his camp.”J 

I saw Caesar and Pompey at the head of their troops, just 
ready to engage. I saw the former, in the last great triumph. 
I desired that the senate of Rome might appear before me, 
in one large chamber, and a modern representative in counter- 
view, in another. The first seemed to be an assembly of heroes 
and demi-gods; the other, a knot of pedlars, pickpockets, 
highwaymen, and bullies. 

* A hint from Gulliver that we have lost the true Greek idiom. — Orrery. 

t In this passage there is a peculiar beauty, though it is not discovered at a hasty 
view. The appearance of Alexander with a victorious army immediately after the 
battle of Arbela, produces only a declaration that he died by drunkenness ; thus 
inadequate and ridiculous to the eye of reason is that ultimate purpose for which 
Alexander with his army marched into a remote country, subverted a mighty empire, 
and deluged a nation with blood : he gained no more than an epithet to his name, 
which, after a few repetitions, was no longer regarded even by himself. Thus the 
purpose of his resurrection appears to be at least equally important with that of his 
life, upon which it is a satire not morfe bitter than just. — H. 

\ Livy, the Roman historian, has related, that Hannibal burnt a great pile of 
wood upon a rock that stopped his passage, and when it was thus heated poured 
vinegar upon it by which it was made so soft as to be easily cut through.- U. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 


The governor, at my request, gave the sign for Cae . an ’ 
Brutus to advance towards us. I was struck with a p 
veneration at the sight of Brutus, and could easily discover 
the most consummate virtue, the greatest intrepidity and firm- 
ness of mind, the truest love of his country, and general bene- 
volence of mankind, in every lineament of his countenance. 
I observed, with much pleasure, that these two persons were in 
good intelligence with each other ; and Caesar freely confessed 
to me, “ that the greatest actions of his own life were not 
equal, by many degrees, to the glory of taking it away.’’ I had 
the honour to have much conversation with Brutus ; and was 
told, “ that his ancestor Junius, Socrates, Epaminondas, Cato 
the younger,’* Sir Thomas More, and himself, were perpetually 
together a sextumvirate, to which all the ages of the world 
cannot add a seventh. 

It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating what 
vast numbers of illustrious persons were called up, to gratify 
that insatiable desire I had to see the world in every period of 
antiquity placed before me. I chiefly fed mine eyes with 
beholding the destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the res- 
torers of liberty to oppressed and injured nations. But it is 
impossible to express the satisfaction I received in my own 
mind, after such a manner as to make it a suitable entertain- 
ment to the reader. 

* I am in some doubt whether Cato the censor can fairly claim a rank among so 
choice a group of ghosts. — Orrery. This note of his lordship is an encomium on 
the judgment of our author, who knew that Cato the censor and Cato the younger 
were very different persons, and for good reason preferred the latter.— H. 


14 


gulliver’s travels. 


31 4^ 


CHAPTER VIII. 

A farther account of Glubbdubdrib — Ancient and modern history corrected. 

Having a desire to see those ancients who were most 
renowned for wit and learning, I set apart one day on purpose. 
I proposed that Homer and Aristotle might appear at the 
head of all their commentators ; hut these were so numerous, 
that some hundreds were forced to attend in the court, and 
outward rooms of the palace. I knew, and could distinguish 
those two heroes, at first sight, and not only from the crowd, 
but from each other. Homer was the taller and comelier 
person of the two, walked very erect for one of his age, and 
his eyes were the most quick and piercing I ever beheld. 
Aristotle stooped much, and made use of a staff. His visage 
was meagre, his hair lank and thin, and his voice hollow.* 
I soon discovered that both of them were perfect strangers to 
the rest of the company, and had never seen or heard of them 
before ; and I had a whispen from a ghost who shall be 
nameless, “that these commentators always kept in the most 
distant quarters from their principals, in the lower world, 
through a consciousness of shame and guilt, because they 


* This description of Aristotle is fine, and, in a few words, represents the true 
nature of his works. By not having the immort al spirit of Homer, be was unable 
to keep his body erect; and his staff, which feebly supported him, like his commen- 
tators, made this defect more conspicuous. He wanted not some useful qualities, 
but these neal ornaments , like his hair, were thin and ungraceful. — Orrery. In 
this the noble commentator seems to be mistaken, for it cannot be believed, that 
Aristotle’s real ornaments, however few, were ungraceful. — H. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPETA, ETC. 


had so horribly misrepresented the meaning of those authors 
to posterity.” I introduced Didymus and Eustathius to 
Homer, and prevailed on him to treat them better than 
perhaps they deserved, for he soon found they wanted a 
genius to enter into the spirit of a poet. But Aristotle was 
out of all patience with the account I gave him of Scotus and 
Ramus, as I presented them to him ; and he asked them, 
“ whether the rest of the tribe were as great dunces as them- 
selves ?” % 

I then desired the governor to call up Descartes and Gas- 
sendi, with whom I prevailed to explain their systems to 
Aristotle. This great philosopher freely acknowledged his 
own mistakes in natural philosophy, because he proceeded in 
many things upon conjecture, as all men must do ; and he 
found that Gassendi, who had made the doctrine of Epicurus 
as palatable as he could, and the vortices of Descartes, were 
equally to be exploded. He predicted the same fate to 
attraction, whereof the present learned are such zealous 
assertors. He said, “ that new systems of nature were but new 
fashions, which would vary in every age ; and even those, who 
pretend to demonstrate them from mathematical principles, 
would flourish but a short period of time, and be out of vogue 
when that was determined.” 

I spent five days in conversing with many others of the 
ancient learned. I saw most of the Roman emperors. 1 
prevailed on the governor to call up Heliogabalus’s cooks to 
dress us a dinner, but they could not shew us much of their 
skill, for want of materials. A helot of Agesilaus made us a 
dish of Spartan broth, but I was not able to get down a 
second spoonful. 

The two gentlemen, who conducted me to the island, were 
pressed by their private affairs to return in three days, which 
1 employed in seeing some of the modern dead, who had 
made the greatest figure, for two or three hundred years past, 


316 


gulliyer’s travels. 


in our own and other countries of Europe ; and having been 
always a great admirer of old illustrious families, I desired 
the governor would call up a dozen or two of kings, with 
their ancestors in order for eight or nine generations. But 
my disappointment was grievous and unexpected. For, instead 
of a long train with royal diadems, I saw in one family two 
fiddlers, three spruce courtiers, and an Italian prelate. In 
another, a barber, an abbot, and two cardinals. I have too 
great a veneration for crowned hea^s to dwell any longer on 
so nice a subject. But as to counts, marquises, dukes, earls, 
and the like, I was not so scrupulous. And I confess, it was 
not without some pleasure, that I found myself able to trace 
the particular features, by which certain families are distin- 
guished, up to their originals. I could plainly discover 
whence one family derives a long chin ; why a second 
has abounded with knaves for two generations, and fools 
for two more ; why a third happened to be crack- 
brained, and a fourth to be sharpers : whence it came, 
what Polydore Yirgil says of a certain great house 
Nec vir fortis , nec fcemina casta ; how cruelty, falsehood, 
and cowardice, grew to be characteristics, by which certain 
families are distinguished as much as by their coats of arms ; 
who first brought the pox into a noble house, which has 
lineally descended in scrofulous tumours to their posterity. 
Neither could I wonder at all this, when I saw such an 
interruption of lineages, by pages, lackeys, valets, coachmen, 
gamesters, fiddlers, players, captains, and pickpockets. 

I was chiefly disgusted with modern history. For having 
strictly examined all the persons of greatest name in the 
courts of princes, for a hundred years past, I found how the 
world had been misled by prostitute writers, to ascribe the 
greatest exploits in war, to cowards ; the wisest counsel, to 
fools ; sincerity, to flatterers ; Roman virtue, to betrayers of 
their country ; piety, to atheists ; chastity to sodomites 


A VOYAGE TO LAPCTA, ETC. 3Ti 

truth, to informers : how many innocent and excellent pers< 
had been condemned to death or banishment, by the practising 
of great ministers upon the corruption of judges, and the 
malice of factions ; how many villains had been exalted to 
the highest places of trust, power, dignity, and profit : how 
great a share in the motions and events of courts, councils, 
and senates, might be challenged by bawds, whores, pimps, 
parasites, and buffoons. How low an opinion I had of human 
wisdom and integrity, when I was truly informed of the 
springs and motives of great enterprises and revolutions in 
the world, and of the contemptible accidents to which they 
owed their success ! 

Here I discovered the roguery and ignorance of those whc 
pretend to write anecdotes, or secret history ; who send so 
many kings to their graves with a cup of poison ; will repeat 
the discourse between a prince and chief minister, where no 
witness was by ; unlock the thoughts and cabinets of ambas- 
sadors and secretaries of state ; and have the perpetual mis- 
fortune to be mistaken. Here I discovered the true causes 
of many great events that have surprised the world ; how a 
-whore can govern the back-stairs, the back-stairs a council, 
and the council a senate. A general confessed in my presence, 
“that he got a victory purely by the force of cowardice and 
ill conduct;” and an admiral, “that for want of proper intelli- 
gence, he beat the enemy, to whom he intended to betray the 
fleet.” Three kings protested to me, “that in their whole 
reigns they never did once prefer any person of merit, unless' 
by mistake, or treachery of some minister in whom they con- 
fided : neither would they do it if they were to live again :* 
and they shewed me with great strength of reason, “that the 
royal throne could not be supported without corruption,* 
because that positive, confident, restive temper, which virtue 
infused into a man, was a perpetual clog to public business.” 

I had the curiosity to inquire, in a particular manner, by 


318 


gulliyer’s travels. 


what methods great members had procured to themselvca 
high titles of honour, and prodigious estates; and I confined 
my inquiry to a very modern period : however, without grat- 
ing upon present times, because I would be sure to give no 
offence even to foreigners: for I hope the reader need not be 
told, that I do not in the least intend my own country, in 
what I say upon this occasion. A great number of persons 
concerned were called up ; and, upon a very slight examina- 
tion, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot reflect 
upon it without some seriousness. Perjury, oppresion, subor- 
nation, fraud, pandarism, and the like infirmities, were 
among the most excusable arts they had to mention ; and for 
these I gave, as it was reasonable, great allowance. But when 
some confessed they owed their greatness and wealth to 
sodomy, or incest; others, to the prostituting of their own 
wives and daughters ; others, to the betraying of their country 
or their prince; some, to poisoning; more to the perverting of 
justice, in order to destroy the innocent : I hope I may be 
pardoned, if these discoveries inclined me a little to abate of 
that profound veneration, which I am naturally apt to pay to 
persons of high rank, who ought to be treated with the 
utmost respect due to their sublime dignity, by us their 
inferiors. 

I had often read of some great services done to princes and 
states, and desired to see persons by whom those services were 
performed. Upon inquiry, I was told, “that their names were 
to be found on no record, except a few of them, whom history 
has represented as the vilest of rogues and traitors.” As to 
the rest, I had never once heard of them. They all appeared 
with dejected looks, and in the meanest habit; most of them 
telling me, “they died in poverty and disgrace,” and the rest 
on a scaffold or on a gibbet. 

Among others, there was one person, whose case appeared 
a little singular. He had a youth about eighteen years old 




A VOYAGE TO I.APUTA, ETC. 319 

standing by his side. He told me “ he had for many years 
been commander of a ship ; in the sea-fight at Actium had the 
good fortune to break through the enemy’s great line of 
battle, sink three of their capital ships, and take a fourth, 
which was the sole cause of Antony’s flight, and of the victory 
that ensued; that the youth standing by him, his only son, 
was killed in the action.” He added, “that upon the confi- 
dence of some merit, the war being at an end, he went to 
Rome and solicited at the court :>f Augustus to be preferred to 
a greater ship, whose commander had been killed ; but with- 
out any regard to his pretensions, it was given to a boy who 
had never seen the sea, the son of Libertina, who waited on 
one of the emperor’s mistresses. Returning back to his own 
vessel, he was charged with neglect of duty, and the ship 
given to a favourite page of Publicola, the vice admiral; 
whereupon he retired to a small farm at a great distance from 
Rome, and there ended his life.” I was so curious to know 
the truth of this story, that I desired Agrippa might be called, 
who was admiral in that fight. He appeared, and confirmed 
the whole account; but with much more advantage to the 
captain, whose modest} had extenuated or concealed a great 
part of his mert. 

I was surprised to fine corruption grown so high and so 
quick in that emoue ry the force of luxury so lately intro- 
duced vJiich made me less wonder at many parallel cases in 
other vun tries, where vices of all kinds have reigned so much 
lonoet. and where the whole praise, as well as pillage, has 
been engrossed by the chief commander, who perhaps had 
the least title to honour. 

As every person called up made exactly the same appear- 
ance he had done in the world, it gave me melancholy reflec- 
tions to observe, how much the race of human kind was 
degenerated among us, within these hundred years past ; how 
the pox, under all its consequences and denominations, ha 1 




320 . 


Gulliver’s travels. 


altered every lineament of an English countenance ; shortened 
the size of bodies, unbraced the nerves, relaxed the sinews and 
muscle, introduced a sallow complexion, and rendered the flesh 
loose and rancid. 

I descended so low, as to desire some English yeomen of 
the old stamp might be summoned to appear; once so famous 
for the simplicity of their manners, diet, and dress; for justice 
in their dealings; for their true spirit of liberty; for their 
valour, and love of their country. Neither could I be wholly 
unmoved, after comparing the living with the dead, when I 
considered how all these pure native virtues were prostituted 
for a piece of money by their grandchildren ; who, in selling 
their votes and managing at elections, have acquired every 
vice and corruption that can possibly be learned in a court. 







A VOYAGE TO LAPCTA, ETC. 321 


CHAPTER IX. 


The Author returns to Maldonada — Sails to the kingdom of Luggnagg — The Author 
confined — He is sent for to court — The manner of his admittance — The king’s 
great lenity to his subjects. 

The day of our departure being come, I took leave of bis 
highness, the governor of Glubbdubdrib, and returned with my 
two companions to Maldonada, where, after a fortnight’s wait- 
ing, a ship was ready to sail for Luggnagg. The two gentle- 
men, and some others, were so generous and kind as to furnish 
me with provisions, and £ee me on board. I was a month in 
this voyage. We had one violent storm, and were under a 
necessity of steering westward to get into the tradewind, 
which holds for about sixty leagues. On the 21st of April, 
1708, we sailed into the river of Clumegnig, which is a sea- 
port town, and made a signal for a pilot. Two of them came 
on board in less than half an hour, by whom we were guided 
between certain shoals and rocks, which are very dangerous in 
the passage, to a large bason, where a fleet may ride in safety 
within a cable’s length of the town-wall. 

Some of our sailors, whether out of treachery or inadver- 
tence, had informed the pilots “ that I was a stranger, and a 
great traveller whereof these gave notice to a custom-house 
officer, by whom I was examined very strictly upon ray land- 
ing. This officer spoke to me in the language of Balni- 
barbi, which, by the force of much commerce, is generally 
understood in that town, especially by seamen and those 

14 * 


322 


gdlliyer’s travels. 

employed in the customs. I gave him a short account of 
some particulars, and made my story as plausible and consis- 
tent as I could ; but I thought it neftessary to disguise my 
country, and call myself a Hollander : because my intentions 
were for Japan, and I knew the Dutch were the only Euro- 
peans permitted to enter into that kingdom. I therefore told 
the officer, “ that having been shipwrecked on the coast of 
Balnibarbi, and cast on a rock, I was received up into Lupu- 
ta, or the flying island .(of which he had often heard), and 
was now endeavouring to get to Japan, whence I might find 
a convenience of returning to my own country.” The officer 
said, “ I must be confined till he could receive orders from 
court, for which he would write immediately, and hoped to 
receive an answer in a fortnight. I was carried to a conven- 
ient lodging, with a sentry placed at the door ; however, I had 
the liberty of a large garden, and was treated with humanity * 
enough, being maintained all the time at the king’s charge. 

I was visited by several persons, chiefly out of curiosity, 
because it was reported that I came from countries very 
remote, of which they had never heaid. 

I hired a young man, who came in the same ship, to be an 
interpreter ; he was a native of Luggnagg, but had lived some 
years at Maldonada, and was a perfect master of both lan- 
guages. By his assistance, I was able to hold a conversation 
with those who came to visit me; but this consisted only of 
their questions, and my answers. 

The dispatch came from court about the time we expected. 
It contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to 
Traldragdahh, or Trildrogdrib (for it is pronounced both 
ways as near as I can remember), by a party of ten horse. 
All my retinue was that poor lad for an interpreter, whom I per- 
suaded into my service, and, at my humble request, we had 
each of us a mule to ride on. A messenger was dispatched 
half a day’s journey before us, to give the king notice of mv 


323 


A VOYAGE TO LA PUT A, ETC. 

approach ; and to desire, “ that his majesty would please to 
appoint a day and hour, when it would be bis gracious plea- 
sure that T might have the honour to lick the dust before his 
footstool.” This is the court style, and I found it to be more 
than matter of form ; for upon my admittance two days after 
my arrival, I was commanded to crawl upon my belly and 
lick the floor as I advanced; but on account of my being a 
stranger, care was taken to have it made so clean, that the 
dust was not offensive. However, this was a pecular grace, 
not allowed to any but persons of the highest rank, when 
they desire an admittance. Nay, sometimes the floor is 
strewed with dust on purposg, when the person to be admit- 
ted happens to have powerful enemies at court ; and I have 
seen a great lord with his mouth so crammed, that when he 
had crept to the proper distance from the throne, he was not 
able to speak a word. Neither is there any remedy, because 
it is capital for those, who receive an audience, to spit or 
wipe their mouths in his majesty’s presence. There is indeed 
another custom, which I cannot altogether approve of: when 
the king has a mind to put any of his nobles to death in a 
gentle indulgent manner, he commands the floor to be strew- 
ed with a certain brown powder of a deadly composition, 
which being licked up, infallibly kills him in twenty-four 
hours. But in justice to this prince’s great clemency, and 
the care he has of his subjects’ lives (wherein it were much 
to be wished that the monarchs of Europe would imitate 
him), it must be mentioned for his honour, that strict orders 
are given to have the infected parts of the floor well washed 
after every such execution, which , if his domestics neglect, 
they are in danger of incurring his royal displeasure. I my- 
self heard him give directions, that one of his pages should 
be whipped, whose turn it was to give notice about washing 
the floo^after an execution, but maliciously had omitted it : 
by which neglect, a young lord of gr^at hopes, coming to an 


324 


G ILLIV E R RAVELS. 


audience, was unfortunately poisoned, although the king ai 
that time had no design agaii t his life. But this good 
prince was so gracious as to forgive the poor page his whip 
ping, upon promise that he would do so no more, without 
special orders. 

To return from this digression, when I had crept within 
four yards of the throne, I raised myself gently upon my 
knees, and then striking my forehead seven times against the 
ground, I pronounced the following words, as they had been 
taught me the night before, Inckpling gloffthrobb squill 
serumm blhiop mlashnalt zwin tnodbalkuff hslhiophad gurd 
lubh asht. This is the compliment, established by the laws 
of the land, for all persons admitted to the king’s presence. 
It may be rendered into English thus : “ May your celestial 
majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons and a half!” To this 
the king returned some answer, which, although I could not 
understand, yet I replied as I had been directed : Flute drin 
yalerick dwnldom prastrad mirpush , which properly sig- 
nilies, “ My tongue is in the mouth of my friend !” and by this 
expression was meant that I desired leave to bring my inter- 
preter : whereupon the young man, already mentioned, was 
accordingly introduced ; by whose intervention I answered as 
many questions as his majesty could put in above an hour. I 
spoke in the Balnibarbian tongue, and my interpreter deliver- 
ed my meaning in that ol Luggnagg. The king was much 
delighted with my company, and ordered his bliffmarklub , or 
high chamberlain, to appoint a lodging in the court for me 
and my interpreter ; with a daily allowance for my table, and 
a large piece of gold for my common expenses. 

I stayed three months in this country, out of perfect obedi- 
ence to his majesty ; who was pleased highly to favour me, 
and made me very honourable offers. But I thought it more 
consistent with prudence and justice to pass the remainder of 
my days with my wife and family. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 


325 


CHAPTER X. 

The Luggnaggians commended — A particular description of the Struldburgs, with 
many conversations between the Author and some eminent persons upon thal 
subject. 

The Luggnaggians are a polite and generous people ; and 
although they are not without some share of that pride which 
is peculiar to all Eastern countries, yet they show themselves 
courteous to strangers, especially such as are countenanced by 
the court. I had many acquaintances, and among persons of 
the best fashion ; and being always attended by my interpreter, 
the conversation we had was not disagreeable. 

One day, in much good company, I was asked by a person 
of quality, “ whether 1 had seen any of their struldbrugs , or 
immortals ?” I said, “ I had not and desired he would explain 
to me what he meant by such an appellation, applied to a mortal 
creature. He told me, that sometimes, though very rarely, a 
child happened to be born in a family, with a red circular spot 
in the forehead, directly over the left eye-brow, which was 
an infallible mark that it should never die. The spot,” as he 
described it, “ was about the compass of a silver threepence, 
but in the course of time grew larger, and changed its colour ; 
for at twelve years old it became green, so continued till five- 
and-twenty, then turned to a deep blue ; at five-and-fortVSt 
grew coal black, and as large as an English shilling ; but 
never admitted any farther alteration.” He said, “ these births 
were so rare, that he did not believe there could be above 
eleven hundred struldbrugs, of both sexes, in the whole king 


326 


Gulliver’s travels. 


iom ; of which he computed about fifty in the metropolis 
and among the rest, a young girl born about three years ago : 
that these productions were not peculiar to any family, but a 
mere effect of chance ; and the children of the struldbrugs 
themselves were equally mortal with the rest of the people.” 

I freely own myself to have been struck with inexpressible 
delight upon hearing this account : and the person who gave 
it me happening to understand the Balnibarbian language, 
which I spoke very well, I could not forbear breaking out into 
expressions, perhaps a little too extravagant. I cried out, as 
in a rapture, “ Happy nation, where every child has at 
least a chance of being immortal ! Happy people, who 
enjoy so many living examples of ancient virtue, and have 
masters ready to instruct them in the wisdom of all former 
ages ! but happiest, beyond all comparison, are those excellent 
struldbrugs , who, being born exempt from that universal 
calamity of human nature, have their minds free and dis- 
engaged, without the weight and depression of spirits caused 
by the continual apprehensions of death. I discovered my 
admiration, “that I had not observed any of these illustrious 
persons at court ; the black spot on the forehead being so re- 
markable a distinction, that 1 could not have easily overlooked 
it : and it was impossible that his majesty, a most judicious 
prince, should not provide himself with a good number . ?f 
such wise and able counsellors. Yet perhaps the virtue of 
those reverend sages was too strict for the corrupt and liber- 
tine manners of a court : and we often find, by experience, 
that young men are too opinionated and volatile, to be guided 
by the sober dictates of their seniors. However, since the 
king was pleased to allow me access to his royal person, I was 
resolved, upon the very first occasion, to deliver my opinion tc 
him on this matter freely and at large, by the help of my 
interpreter; and whether he would please to take my advice 
or not, yet in one thing I was determined that his majesty 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 327 

having frequently offered me an establishment inthis country, 
I would, with great thankfulness, accept the favour, and pass 
my life here in the conversation of those superior beings the 
struldbrugs , if they would please to admit me.” 

The gentleman to whom I addressed my discourse, because 
(as I have already observed) he spoke the language of Bal- 
nibarbi, said to me, with a sort of a smile which usually arises 
from them to the ignorant, that he was glad to be of any 
occasion to keep me among them, and desired my permission 
to explain to the company what I had said.’’ He did so, and 
they talked together for a long time in their own language, 
whereof I understood not a syllable, neither could I observe 
by their countenances, what impression my discourse had 
made on them. After a short silence, the same person told 
me, “ that his friends and mine (so he thought fit to express 
himself) were very much pleased with the judicious remarks T 
had made on the great happiness and advantages of immortal 
life, and they were desirous to know, in a particular manner, 
what scheme of living I should have formed to myself, if it 
had fallen to my lot to have been born a struldbrug .” 

I answered, “ it was easy to be eloquent on so copious and 
delightful a subject, especially to me, who had been often apt 
to amuse myself with visions of what I should do, if I were a 
king, a general, or a great lord : and upon this very case I 
had frequently run over the whole system how I should 
employ myself, and pass the time, if I were sure to live for ever. 

“ If it had been my fortune to come into the world a struld- 
brug, as soon as I could discover my own happiness, by 
understanding the difference between life and death, I would 
first resolve, by all arts and methods whatsoever, to procure 
myself riches : in pursuit of which by thrift and management, 
I might reasonably expect in about two hundred years, to be 
the wealthiest man in the kingdom. In the second place, 7 
would, from my earliest youth, apply myself to the study of arts 


328 


'gulliyer’s travels. 


and sciences, by which I should arrive in time to excel all 
others in learning. Lastly, I would carefully record every 
action and event of consequence, that happened in the public, 
impartially draw the characters of the several successions of 
princes and great ministers of state, with my own observations 
on every point. I would exactly set down the several changes 
in custom, language, fashions of dress, diet, and diversions, by 
all which acquirements, I should be a great treasure of know- 
ledge and wisdom, and certainly become the oracle of the 
nation. 

“I would never marry after threescore, but live in an 
hospitable manner, yet still on the saving scale. I would 
eptertain myself in forming and directing the minds of 
hopeful young men, by convincing them, from my own 
remembrance, experience, and observation, fortified by nume- 
rous examples, of the usefulness of virtue in public and 
private life. But my choice and constant companions should 
be a set of my own immortal brotherhood ; among whom, I 
would elect a dozen from the most ancient, down to my own 
contemporaries. Where any of these wanted fortunes, I 
would provide them with convenient lodges round my own 
estate, and have some of them always at my table; only 
mingling a few of the most valuable among you mortals, 
whom length of time would harden me to lose with little or 
no reluctance, and treat your posterity after the same man- 
ner; just as a man diverts himself with the annual succes- 
sion of pinks and tulips in his garden, without regretting the 
loss of those which withered the preceding year. 

“ These struldbrugs and I would mutually communicate 
our observations and memorials, through the course of time ; 
remark the several gradations by which corruption steals into 
the world, and oppose it in every step, by giving perpetual 
warning and instruction to mankind : which, added to the 
strong influence of our own example, would probably prevent 


320 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 

that continual degeneracy of human nature, so justly com- 
plained of in all ages. 

“ Add to this, the pleasure of seeing the various revolutions 
of states and empires ; the changes in the lower and upper 
world ; ancient cities in ruins, and obscure villages become 
the seats of kings ; famous rivers lessening into shallow 
brooks ; the ocean leaving one coast dry, and overwhelming 
another; the discovery of many countries yet unknown; 
barbarity overrunning the politest nations, and the most 
barbarous become civilized. I should then see the discovery 
of the longitude, the perpetual motion, the universal medicine, 
and many other great inventions, brought to the utmost 
perfection. 

“ What wonderful discoveries should we make in astronomy, 
by outliving and confirming our own predictions ; by observ- 
ing the progress and returns of comets, with the changes of 
motion in the sun, moon, and stars !” 

I enlarged upon many other topics, which the natural 
desire of endless life, and sublunary happiness, could easily 
furnish me with. When I had ended, and the sum of my 
discourse had been interpreted, as before, to the rest of the 
company, there was a good deal of talk among them in the 
language of the country, not without some laughter at my 
expense. At last, the same gentleman who had been my 
interpreter, said, “ He was desired by the rest to set me right 
in a few mistakes, which I had fallen into through the com- 
mon imbecility of human nature, and upon that allowance 
was less answerable for them. That this breed of struldbrugs 
was peculiar to their country, for there were no such people 
either in Bakibarbi or Japan where he had the honour to 
be ambassador from his majesty, and found the natives in 
both these kingdoms very hard to believe that the fact was 
possible: and it appeared from my astonishment when he 
first mentioned the matter to me, that I received it as a thing 


330 


gulliver’s travels. 


wholly new, and scarcely to be credited. That in the two 
kingdoms above-mentioned, where during his residence he 
had conversed very much, he observed long life to be the 
universal desire and wish of mankind. That whoever had 
one foot in the grave was sure to hold back the other as 
strongly as he could. That the oldest had still hopes of 
living one day longer, and looked on death as the greatest 
evil, from which nature always prompted him to retreat. 
Only in this island of Luggnagg the appetite for living was 
not so eager, from the continual example of the struldbrugs 
before their eyes. 

“ That the system of living contrived by me, was unreason- 
able and unjust; because it supposed a perpetuity of youth, 
health, and vigour, which no man could be so foolish to hope, 
however extravagant he may be in his wishes.* That the 
question therefore was not, whether a man would choose to 
be always in the prime of youth, attended with prosperity 
and health ; but how he would pass a perpetual life, under 
all the usual disadvantages which old age brings along with 
it ; for although few men will avow their desires of being 
immortal, upon such hard conditions, yet in the two king- 
doms before mentioned, of Balnibarbi and Japan, he observed 
that every man desired to put off death some time longer, let 
it approach ever so late : and he rarely heard of any man 
who died willingly, except he were incited by the extremity 
of grief or torture. And he appealed to me, whether in those 
countries I had travelled, as well as my own, I had not 
observed the same general disposition.”! 

* To this it may possibly be objected, that the perpetuity of youth, health, and 
vigour, would be less a prodigy than the perpetuity of life in a body subject to 
gradual decay, and might therefore be hoped without greater extravagance of 
folly ; but the sentiment here expressed is that of a being to whom immortality, 
though not perpetual youth, was familiar, and in whom the wish of a perpetual 
youth only would have been extravagant, because that only appeared from fact* 
to be impossible — H. 

t If it be said, that although the folly of ■’esiring life to be prolonged under th* 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 331 


After this preface, he gave me a particular account of the 
struldbrugs among them. He said, “ they commonly acted 
like mortals till about thirty years old ; after which, by 
degrees, they grew melancholy and dejected, increasing in 
both till they came to fourscore. This he learned from their 
own confession : for otherwise, there not bein^ above two or 
three of that species born in an age, thev were too few to 
form a general observation by. When they came to fourscore 
years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this 
country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of 
other old men, but many more which arose from the dreadful 
prospect of never dying. They were not only opinionative, 
peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative ; but incapable of 
friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never 
descended below their grandchildren. Envy, and impotent 
desires, are their prevailing passions. But those objects 
against which their envy seems principally directed, are the 
vices of the younger sort, and the deaths of the old. By 
reflecting on the former, they find themselves cut off from all 
possibility of pleasure ; and whenever they see a funeral, 
they lament and repine that others are gone to a harbour of 
rest, to which they themselves never can hope to arrive. 
They have no remembrance of anything, but what they learn- 
ed and observed in their youth and middle age, and even that 
is very imperfect ; and for the truth or particulars of any fact, 
it is safer to depend on common tradition, than upon their 
best recollections. The least miserable among them, appear 

disadvantages of old age, is here finely exposed ; yet the desire of terrestrial 
immortality, upon terms on which alone in the nature of things it is possible, an 
exemption from disease, accident, and decay, is tacitly allowed : it may be answer- 
ed, that as we grow old by imperceptible degrees, so for the most part we grow old 
without repining ; and every man is ready to profess himself willing to die, when 
he shalt be overtaken by the decrepitude of age in some future period : yet wheu 
every other eye sees that this period is arrived, he is still tenacious of life, and 
murmurs at the condition upon which he received his existence. To reconcile 
old age therefore to the thoughts of a dissolution, appears to be all that was 
necessary in a moral writer for practical purposes. — H. 


I 


332 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


to be those who turn to dotage, and entirely lose their 
memories ; these meet with more pity and assistance, because 
they want many bad qualities which abound in others. 

“ If a struldbrug happen to marry one of his own kind, the 
marriage is dissolved of course, by the courtesy of the king- 
dom, as soon as the younger of the two comes to be four- 
score; for the law thinks it a reasonable indulgence, that 
those who are condemned, without any fault of their own, to 
a perpetual continuance in the world, should not have their 
misery doubled by the load of a wife. 

“ As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, 
they are looked on as dead in law ; their heirs immediately 
succeed to their support ; and the poor ones, are maintained 
at the public charge. After that period, they are held incapa- 
ble of any employment of trust or profit ; they cannot purchase 
lands, or take leases; neither are they allowed to be witnesses 
in any cause, either civil or criminal, not even for the decision 
of meers and bounds. 

u At ninety, they lose their teeth and hair ; they have at 
that age no distinction of taste, but eat and drink whatever 
they can get, without relish or appetite. The diseases they 
were subject to still continue, without increasing or diminish- 
ing. In talking, they forget the common appellation of things, 
and the names of persons, even of those who are their nearest 
friends and relations. For the same reason, they never can 
amuse themselves with reading, because their memory will 
not serve to carry them from the beginning of a sentence to 
the end ; and by this defect, that are deprived of the only 
entertainment, whereof they might otherwise be capa- 
ble. 

“ The language of this country being always upon the flux, 
the struldbrugs of one age do not understand those of another ; 
neither are they able, after two hundred years, to hold any 
conversation (farther than by a few general words) with theii 


A VOYAGE TO L A P U T A , ETC. 333 

neighbours the mortals ; and thus the} iie under the disadvan- 
tage of living like foreigners in their own country.” 

This was the account given me of the struldbrugs, as near as 
I can remember. I afterwards saw five or six of different ages, 
the youngest not above two hundred years old, who were 
brought to me at several times by some of my friends ; but 
although they were told, “that I was a great traveller, and 
had seen all the world,” they had not the least curiosity to 
ask me a question ; only desired “ I would give them slums- 
IcudasJc , or a token of remembrance which is a modest way 
of begging, to avoid the law, that strictly forbids it, because 
they are provided for by the public, although indeed with a 
very scanty allowance. 

They are despised and hated by all sorts of people. When 
one of them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and • their birth 
is recorded very particularly : so that you may know their ago 
by consulting the register, which, however, has not been kept 
above a thousand years past, or at least has been destroyed 
by time or public disturbances. But the usual way of com- 
puting how old they are, is by asking them what kings or 
great persons they can remember, and then consulting history ; 
for infallibly the last prince in their mind did not begin his 
reign after they were fourscore years old. 

They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld ; and 
the women were more horrible than the men. Besides the 
usual defc/rmities in extreme old age, they acquired an addi- 
tional ghastliness, in proportion to their number of years, 
which is not to be described ; and among half a dozen, I soon 
distinguished which was the eldest, although there was not 
above a century or two between them. 

The reader will easily believe, that from what I had heard 
and seen, my keen appetite for perpetuity of life was much 
abated. I grew heartily ashamed of the pleasing visions I 
had formed ; and tf ought no tyrant could invent a death, into 


334 


Gulliver’s travels. 


which I would not run with pleasure, from such a life. The 
king heard of all that had passed between me and my friends 
upon this occasion, and rallied me very pleasantly ; wishing I 
could send a couple of struldbrugs to my own country, to arm 
our people against the fear of death ;* but this, it seems, is 
forbidden by the fundamental laws of the kingdom, or else I 
should have been well content with the trouble and expense 
of transporting them. 

I could not but agree, that the laws of this kingdom rela- 
tive to the struldbrugs were founded upon the strongest rea- 
sons, and such as any other country would be under the 
necessity of enacting, in the like circumstances. Otherwise, 
as avarice is the necessary consequent of old age, those 
immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole 
nation, and engross the civil power, which, for want of abili- 
ties to manage, must end in the ruin of the public. 

* Perhaps it may not be wholly useless to remark, that the sight of a struldbrug 
would no otherwise arm those against the fear of death, who have no hope teyond 
it, than a man is armed against the fear of breaking hie limbs, who jumps out of a 
window when his house is on fire. — H. 



CIIAF1ER. XI. 


The Author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan — From thence he returns tn a 
Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to England. 


I thought this account of the struldbrugs might be some 
entertainment to the reader, because it seems to be a little 
out of the common way ; at least I do not remember to have 
met the like in any book of travels that has come to my hands : 
and if I am deceived, my excuse must be, that it i& necessary 
for travellers who describe the same country, very often to 
agree in dwelling on the same particulars, without deserving 
the censure of having borrowed or transcribed from those who 
wrote before them. 

There is indeed a perpetual commerce between this kingdom 
and the great empire of Japan ; and it is very probable, that the 
Japanese authors may have given some account of th e struld- 
brugs ; but my stay in Japan was so short, and I was so entirely 
a stranger to the language, that I was not qualified to make 
any inquiries. But I hope the Dutch, upon this notice, will be 
curious and able enough to supply my defects. 

His majesty having often pressed me to accept some 
employment in his court, and finding me absolutely determined 
to return to my native country, was pleased to give me his 
license to depart ; and honoured me with a letter of recom- 
mendation, under his own hand, to the emperor of Japan. 
He likewise presented me with four hundred and fourty-four 
large pieces of gold (this nation delighting in even numbers), 


3 36 


gullivee’s travels. 


and a red diamond, which I sold in England for eleven him 
dred pounds. 

On the 26th of May, 1709, I took a solemn leave of his 
majesty, and all my friends. This prince was so gracious as 
to order a guard to conduct me to Glanguenstald, which 
is a royal port to the south-west part of the island. In six 
days I found a vessel ready to carry me to Japan, and spent 
fifteen days in the voyage. We landed at a small port-town 
called Xamoschi, situated on the south-east part of Japan; the 
town lies on the western point, where there is a narrow strait 
leading northward into a long arm of the sea, upon the north- 
west part of which, Yedo the metropolis stands. At landing 
I shewed the custom-house officers my letter from the king of 
Luggnagg to his imperial majesty. They knew the seal per- 
fectly well ; it was as broad as the palm of my hand. The impres- 
sion was, ‘ A king lifting up a lame beggar from the earth.’ 
The magistrates of the town, hearing of my letter, received 
me as a public minister ; they provided me with carriages and 
servants, and bore my charges to Yedo, where I was admitted 
to an audience, and delivered my letter, which was opened 
with great ceremony, and explained to the emperor by an 
interpreter ; who then gave me notice, by his majesty's order, 
“ that I should signify my request, and, whatever it were, it 
should be granted, for the sake of his royal brother of Lugg- 
nagg.” This interpreter was a person employed to transact 
affairs with the Hollanders : he soon conjectured, by my 
countenance, that I was a European, and therefore repeated 
his majesty’s commands in Low Dutch, which he spoke per- 
fectly well. I answered, as I had before determined, “ that T 
was a Dutch merchant, shipwrecked in a very remote country, 
whence I had travelled by sea and land to Luggnagg, and 
then took shipping for Japan, where I knew my countrymen 
often traded, and with some of these I hoped to get an 
opportunity of returning into Europe : 1 therefore most 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, ETC. 337 


humbly entreated his royal favour, to give order that 
I should be conducted in safety to Nangasac.” To this 
I added another petition, “ that for the sake of my 
patron the king of Luggnagg, his majesty would condescend 
to excuse my performing the ceremony imposed on my 
countrymen, of trampling upon the crucifix ; because I had 
been thrown into this kingdom by my misfortunes, without 
any intention of trading” When this latter petition was 
interpreted to the emperor, he seemed a little surprised ; and 
said, “ he believed I was the first of my countrymen who even 
made any scruple in this point ; and that he began to doubt, 
whether I was a real Hollander, or not ; but rather supected I 
must be a Christian. However, for the reasons I had offered, 
but chiefly to gratify the king of Luggnagg by an uncommon 
mark of his favour, he would comply with the singularity of 
my humour ; but the affair must be managed with dexterity, 
and his officers should be commanded to let me pass, as it were 
by forgetfulness; for he assured me, that if the secret should 
be discovered by my countrymen the Dutch, they would cut my 
throat in the voyage.” I returned my thanks, by the inter- 
preter, for so unusual a favour ; and some troops being at that 
time on the march to Nangasac, the commanding officer had 
orders to convey me safe thither, with particular instruction 
about the business of the crucifix. 

On the 9th of June, 1709, I arrived at Nangasac, after a 
very long and troublesome journey. I soon fell into the com- 
pany of some Dutch sailors belonging to the Amboyna of 
Amsterdam, a stout ship of 450 tons. I had lived long in 
Holland, pursuing my studies at Leyden, and I spoke Dutch 
well. The seamen soon knew whence I came last : they were 
curious to inquire into my voyages and course of life. I made 
up a story as short and probable as I could, but concealed the 
greatest part. I knew many persons in Holland ; I was able 
to invent names for my parents, whom I pretended to be 


15 


338 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


obscure people in the province of Guelderland. I would have 
given the captain (one Theodor us Vangrult) what he pleased 
to ask for my voyage to Holland, but understanding I was a sur- 
geon, he was contented to take half the usual rate, on condi- 
tion that I would serve him in the way of my calling. Before 
we took shipping, I was often asked by some of the crew 
“ whether I had performed the ceremony above mentioned ?” 
I evaded the question by general answers ; “ that I had satisfied 
the emperor and*court in all particulars.” However, a malicious 
rogue of a skipper went to an officer, and pointing to me, told 
him, “ I had not yet trampled on that crucifix but the other, 
who had received instructions to let me pass, gave the rascal 
twenty strokes on the shoulders with a bamboo ; after which 
I was was no more troubled with such questions. 

Nothing happened worth mentioning in this voyage. We 
sailed with a fair wind to the Cape of Good Hope, where 
we staid only to take in fresh water. On the 10th of April, 
1710, we arrived safe at Amsterdam, having lost only three 
men by sickness in the voyage, and a fourth, who fell from the 
foremast into the sea, not far from the coast of Guinea. From 
Amsterdam I soon after set sail for England, in a small vessel 
belonging to that city. 

On the 16th of April we put in at the Downs. I landed 
next morning, and saw once more my native country, after an 
absence of five years and six months complete. I went 
straight to Redriff, where I arrived the same day, at two in 
the afternoon, and found my wife and family in good health. 


PART I Y. 


A VOYAGE TO THE 


COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS. 





















































































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* 





















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♦ 
















* 










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i /M s i 


























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t 


A VOYAGE 

TO THB 

COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS. 


CHAPTER I. 


/ * Author sets out as captain of a ship — His men conspire against him, c.nflne 
dm a long time to his cabin, and set him on shore in an unknown land — He 
travels up into the country — The Yahoos, a strange sort of animal, described — The 
Author meets two Houyhnhnms, 


I continued at home with my wife and children about five 
months, in a very happy condition, if I could have learned the 
lesson of knowing when I was well. I left my poor wife big 
with child, and accepted an advantageous offer made me to be 
captain of the Adventure, a stout merchantman of 350 tons; 
for I understood navigation well, and being grown weary of a 
surgeon’s employment at sea, which however, I could exercise 
upon occasion, I took a skilful young man of that calling, one 
Robert Purefoy, into my ship. We set sail from Portsmouth, 
upon the seventh day of September, 1710; on the 14th, we 
met with Captain Pocock, of Bristol, at Teneriffe, who was 
going to the bay of Campechy to cut logwood. On the 10th, 
he was parted from us by a storm ; I heard since my return, 

on 


34 2 


GULLIVER S TRAVEL8 


that his ship foundered, and none escaped but one cabin boy 
H .is a?; honest man, and a good sailor, but a little too posi- 
tive in Lis own opinions,)which was the cause of his destruc- 
tion, as it has been of several others; for if he had followed 
my advice, he might have been safe at home with his family 
at this time as well as myself. 

I had several men died in my ship of calentures, so that I 
was forced to get recruits out of Barbadoes and the Leeward 
Islands, where I touched by the direction of the merchants 
who employed me ; which I had soon too much cause to repent ; 
for I found afterward, that most of them had been buccaneers.* 
I had fifty hands on board ; and my orders were, that I should 
trade with the Indians in the South Sea, and make what dis- 
coveries. I could. These rogues, whom I had picked up 
debauched my other men, and they all formed a conspiracy to 
seize the ship, and secure me ; which they did one morning, 
rushing into my cabin, and binding me hand and foot, threat- 
ening to throw me overboard, if I offered to stir. I told them, 
“I was their prisoner and would submit.” This they made me 
swear to do, and then they unbound me, only fastening one 
of my legs with a chain, near my bed, and placed a sentry at 
my door with his piece charged, who was commanded to 
shoot me dead, if I attempted my liberty. They sent me 
down victuals and drink, and took the government of the ship 
to themselves. Their design was to turn pirates, and plunder 
the Spaniards, which they could not do till they got more 
men. But first they resolved to sell the goods in the ship, 
and then go to Madagascar for recruits, several among them 
having died since my confinement. They sailed many weeks, 
and traded with the Indians ; but I knew not what course 
they took, being kept a close prisoner in my cabin, and expect- 
ing nothing less than to be murdered, as they often threat- 
ened me. 


Certain pirates, that infested the West Indies, were so called— H. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 343 


Upon the 9th day of May, 1711, one James Welch came 
down to my cabin, and said, “ he had orders from the captain 
to set me ashore.” I expostulated with him, but in vain ; 
neither would he so much as tell me who their new captain 
was. They forced me into the long-boat, letting me put on 
my best suit of clothes, which were as good as new, and take 
a small bundle of linen, but no arms, except my hanger ; and 
they were so civil as not to search my pockets, into which I 
conveyed what money I had, with some other little neces- 
saries. They rowed about a league, and then set me down on 
a strand. I desired them to tell me what country it was. 
They all swore, “ they knew no more than myself;” but said, 
“that the captain (as they called him) was resolved, after they 
had sold the lading, to get rid of me in the first place where 
they could discover land.” They pushed off immediately, 
advising me to make haste for fear of being overtaken by the 
tide, and so bade me farewell. 

In this desolate condition I advanced forward, and soon got 
upon firm ground, where I sat down on a bank to rest myself, 
and consider what I had best do. When I was a little 
refreshed, I went up into the country, resolving to deliver 
mvself to the first savages I should meet, and purchase my life 
from them by some bracelets, glass rings, and other toys 
which sailors usually provide themselves with in those 
voyages, and whereof I had some about me. The land was 
divided by long rows of trees, not regularly planted, but natu- 
rally growing ; there was great plenty of grass, and several 
fields of oats. I walked very circumspectly, for fear of being 
surprised, or suddenly shot with an arrow from behind, or on 
either side. I fell into a beaten road, where I saw many 
tracks of human feet, and some of cows, but most of horses. 
At last I beheld several animals in a field, and one or two of 
the same kind sitting on trees. Their shape was very singular 
and deformed, which a little discomposed me, so that I lay 


% 


344 


Gulliver’s travels. 




down behind a thicket to observe them better. Some of them 
coming forward near the place where I lay, gave me an oppor- 
tunity of distinctly marking their form. Their heads and 
breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizzled, and 
\others lank; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge of 
hair down their backs, and the fore parts of their legs and 
feet ; but the rest of their bodies was bear, so that I might see 
their skins, which were of a brown buff colour. They had no 
tails, or any hair on their buttocks, except about the anus ; 
which, I presume, nature had placed there to defend them, as 
they sat on the ground ; for this posture they used, as well as 
lying down, and often stood on their hind feet. They climbed 
high trees as nimbly as a squirrel, for they had strong 
extended claws before and behind, terminating in sharp points, 
and hooked. They would often spring, and bound and leap 
with prodigious agility. The females were not so large as the 
males; they had long lank hair on their head, but none on their 
faces, nor any thing more than a sort of down on the rest of 
their bodies, except about the anus and pudenda. The dugs 
hung between their fore-feet, and often reached almost to the 
ground as they walked. The hair of both sexes was of several 
colours, brown, red, black, and yellow. Upon the whole, I 
never beheld, in all my travels, so disagreeable an animal, or 
one against which I naturally conceived so strong an anti- 
pathy ; so that thinking I had seen enough, full of contempt 
and aversion, I got up, and pursued the beaten road, hoping it 
might direct me to the cabin of some Indian. I had not gone 
far, when I met one of these creatures full in my way, and 
coming up directly to me. The ugly monster, when he saw 
me, distorted several ways every feature of his visage, and 
stared, as at an object he had never seen before; then 
approaching nearer, lifted up his fore-paw, whether out of 
curiosity or mischief I could not tell ; but I drew my hanger, 
and gave him a good blow with the flat side of it, for I durst 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNM8. 345 


not strike with the edge, fearing the inhabitants might be 
provoked against me, if they should come to know that I had 
killed or maimed any of their cattle. When the beast felt 
the smart, he drew back, aud roared so loud, that a herd of 
at least forty came flocking about me from the next field, 
howling and making odious faces; but I ran to the body of a 
tree, and leaning my back against it, kept them off by 
waving my hanger. Several of this cursed brood, getting 
hold of the branches behind, leaped up into the tree, whence 
they began to discharge their excrements on my head : how- 
ever, I escaped pretty well by sticking close to the stem of 
the tree, but was almost stifled with the filth which fell about 
me on every side. 

In the midst of this distress, I observed them all to run 
away on a sudden as fast as they could ; at which 1 ventured 
to leave the tree, and pursue the road, wondering what it was 
that could put them into this fright. But looking on my left 
hand, I saw a horse walking softly in the field ; which my 
persecutors having sooner discovered, was the cause of their 
flight. The horse started a little, when he came near me, but 
soon recovering himself, looked full in my face with manifest 
tokens of wonder. He viewed my hands and feet, walking 
round me several times. I would have pursued my journey, 
but he placed himself directly in the way, yet looking with a 
very mild aspect, never offering the least violence. We stood 
gazing at each other for some time ; at last I took the bold- 
ness to reach my hand towards his neck with a design to 
stroke it, using the common style and whistle of jockeys, 
when they are going to handle a strange horse. But this 
animal seemed to receive my civilities with disdain, shook his 
head, and bent his brows, softly raising up his right fore-foot 
to remove my hand. Then he neighed three or four times, 
but in so different a cadence, that I almost began to think he 
was speaking to himself, in some language ff his own. 

15 * 


346 


Gulliver’s travels. 


While he and I were thus employed, another horse came 
up ; who applying himself first in a very formal manner, they 
gently struck each other’s right hoof before, neighing several 
times by turns, and varying the sound, which seemed to be 
almost articulate. They went some paces off, as if it were to 
confer together, walking side by side, backward and forward, 
like persons deliberating upon some affair of weight, but 
often turning their eyes towards me, as it were to watch that 
I might not escape. I was amazed to see such actions and 
behaviour in brute beasts : and concluded with myself that if 
the inhabitants of this country were endued with a propor- 
tionable degree of reason, they must needs be the wisest peof- 
ple upon earth. This thought gave me so much comfort, 
that I resolved to go forward, until I could discover some 
house or village, or meet with any of the natives, leaving the 
two horses to discourse together as they pleased. But the 
first, who was a dapple gray, observing me to steal off, 
neighed after me in so expressive a tone, that I fancied myself 
to understand what he meant ; whereupon I turned back, and 
came near to him to expect his farther commands ; but con- 
cealing my fear as much as I could ; for I began to be in 
some pain how this adventure might terminate; and the 
reader would easily believe I did not much like my present 
situation. 

The two horses came up close to me, looking with great 
earnestness upon my face and hands. The gray steed rubbed 
my hat all round with his right fore-hoof, and discomposed it 
so much, that I was forced to adjust it better by taking it off, 
and settling it on again ; whereat, both he and his companion 
(who was a brown bay) appeared to be much surprised ; the 
latter felt the lappet of my coat, and finding it to hang loose 
about me, they both looked with new signs of wonder. He 
stroked my right hand, seeming to admire the softness and 
colour ; but he squeezed it so hard betwesn his hoof and his 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 347 


pastern, that I was forced to roar ; after which they both 
touched me with all possible tenderness. They were under 
great perplexity about my shoes and stockings, which they 
felt very often, neighing to each other, and using various ges- 
tures, not unlike those of a philosopher, when he would 
attempt to solve some new and difficult phenomenon. 

Upon the whole, the behaviour of these animals was so 
orderly and rational, so acute and judicious, that I at last 
concluded they must needs be magicians, who had thus 
metamorphosed themselves upon some design, and seeing a 
stranger in the way, resolved to divert themselves with him ; 
or, perhaps were really amazed at the sight of a man so very 
different in habit, feature, and complexion, from those who 
might probably live in so remote a climate. Upon the 
strength of this reasoning, I ventured to address them in the 
following manner: “ Gentlemen, if you be conjurors, as I have 
good cause to believe, you can understand any language ; 
therefore I make bold to let your worships know that I am a 
poor distressed Englishman, driven by his misfortunes upon 
your coast : and I entreat one of you to let me ride upon his 
back, as if he were a real horse, to some house or village 
where I can be relieved. In return of which favour, I will 
make you a present of this knife and bracelet taking them 
out of my pocket. The two creatures stood silent while I 
spoke, seeming to listen with great attention ; and when I 
had ended, they neighed frequently towards each other, as if 
they were engaged in serious conversation. I plainly observed 
that their language expressed the passions very well, and the 
words might, with little pains, be resolved into an alphabet 
more easily than the Chinese. 

I could frequently distinguish the word Yahoo , which was 
repeated by each of them several times : and although it was 
impossible for me to conjecture what it meant, yet while the 
two horses were busy in conversation, I endeavoured to 


348 Gulliver’s travels. 

practise this word upon my tongue ; and as soon as they 
were silent, I boldly pronounced Yahoo in a loud voice, 
imitating at the same time, as near as I could, the neighing 
of a horse ; at which they were both visibly surprised ; and 
the gray repeated the same word twice, as if he meant to 
teach the right accent; wherein I spoke after him as well as 
I could, and found myself perceivably to improve every time, 
though very far from any degree of perfection. Then the 
bay tried me with a second word, much harder to be pro- 
nounced ; but reducing it to the English orthography, may 
be spelt thus, Houyknhnm. I did not succeed in this so well 
as in the former ; but after two or three farther trials, I had 
better fortune ; and they both appeared amazed at my 
capacity. 

After some further discourse, which I then conjectured 
might relate to me, the two friends took their leaves, with 
the same compliment of striking each other’s hoof ; and the 
gray made me signs that I should walk before him ; wherein 
I thought it prudent to comply, till I could find a better 
director. When I offered to slacken my pace, he would -cry 
lihuun , hhuun: I guessed his meaning, and gave him to 
understand, as well as I could, “ that I was weary, and not 
able to walk faster upon which he would stand awhile to 
let me rest. 


A VOYAGE TO THE H JUYHNHNM3, 3'fO 


CHAPTER II. 


Tbe Author conducted by a Houyhnhnm to his house — The house described — Tho 
Author’s reception — The food of Houyhnhnms — The Author in distress for 
want of meat — Is at last relieved — His manner of feeding in this country. 


Having travelled about three miles, we came to a long 
kind of building, made of timber stuck in the ground, and 
wattled across ; the roof was low, and covered with straw. I 
now began to be a little comforted ; and took out some toys, 
which travellers usually carry for presents to the savage 
Indians of America, and other parts, in hopes the people of 
the house would be thereby encouraged to receive me kindly. 
The horse made me a sign to go in first ; it was a large 
room, with a smooth clay floor, and a rack and manger, 
extending the whole length on one side. There were three 
nags and two mares, not eating, but some of them sitting 
down upon their hams, which I very much wondered at ; but 
wondered more to see the rest employed in domestic busi- 
ness ; these seemed but ordinary cattle ; however, this con- 
firmed my first opinion, that a people who could so far civilize 
brute animals, must needs excel in wisdom all the nations of 
the world. The gray came in just after, and thereby pre- 
vented any ill treatment which the others might have given 
me. He neighed to them several times in a style of authority, 
and received answers. 

Beyond this room there were three others, reaching the 
length of the house, to which you passed through three doors, 


350 gulliver’s travels. 

opposite to each other, in the manner of a vista ; we went 
through the second room towards the third. Here the gray 
walked in first, beckoning me to attend : I waited in the 
second room, and got ready my presents for the master and 
mistress of the house : they were two knives, three bracelets 
of false pearls, a small looking-glass, and a bead necklace 
The horse neighed three or four times, and I waited to hear 
some answers in a human voice, but I heard no other returns 
than in the same dialect, only one or two a little shriller than 
his. I began to think that this house must belong to some 
person of great note among them, because there appeared so 
much ceremony before I could gain admittance. But, that a 
man of quality should be served all by horses, was beyond 
my comprehension ; I feared my brain was disturbed by my 
sufferings and misfortunes : I roused myself, and looked about 
me in the room where I was left alone : this was furnished 
like the first, only after a more elegant manner. I rubbed my 
eyes often, but the same objects still occurred. I pinched my 
arms and sides to awake myself hoping I might be in a 
dream. I then absolutely concluded, that all these appear- 
ances could be nothing else but necromancy and magic. But 
I bad no time to pursue these reflections ; for the gray horse 
came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him into the 
third room, where I saw a very comely mare, together 
with a colt and foal, sitting on their haunches upon mats 
of straw, not unartfuily made, and perfectly neat and 
clean. 

The mare soon after my entrance rose from her mat, and 
coming up close, after having nicely observed my hands and 
face, gave me a most contemptuous look ; and turning to the 
horse, I heard the word Yahoo often repeated betwixt them ; 
the meaning of which word I could not then comprehend, 
although it was the first I had learned to pronounce ; but I 
was soon better informed, to my everlasting mortification ; 


A VOYAGE TO THE II 1 UYHNHNM8. 351 




for the horse, beckoning to me with his head, and repeating 
the hhuun , hhuun , as he did upon the road, which I under- 
stood was to attend him, led me out into a kind of court, 
where was another building, at some distance from the house. 
Here we entered, and I saw three of those detestable creatures, 
which I first met after my landing, feeding upon roots, and 
the flesh of some animals, which I afterwards found to be 
that of asses and dogs, and now and then a cow, dead by 
accident or disease. They were all tied by the neck with 
strong withes fastened to a beam ; they held their food 
between the claws of their fore feet, and tore it with their 
leeth. 

The master horse ordered a sorrel nag, one of his servants, 
to untie the largest of these animals, and take him into the 
yard. The beast and I were brought close together, and by 
our countenances diligently compared both by master and 
servant, who thereupon repeated several times the word 
Yahoo. My horror aud astonishment are not to be described, 
when I observed, in this abominable animal, a perfect human 
figure : the face of it indeed was flat and broad, the nose 
depressed, the lips large, and the mouth wide ; but these dif- 
ferences are common to all savage nations, where the linea- 
ments of the countenance are distorted, by the natives suffer- 
ing their infants to lie grovelling on the earth, or by carrying 
them on their backs, nuzzling with' their faces against the 
mother’s shoulders. The fore feet of the Yahoo differed 
from my hands in nothing else but the length of the nails, 
the coarseness and brownness of the palms, and the hairiness 
on the backs. There was the same resemblance between oui 
feet, with the same differences ; which I knew very well, 
though the horses did not, because of my shoes and stockings ; 
the same in every part of our bodies except as to hairiness 
and colour, which I have already described. 

The great difficulty that seemed to stick with the two 


352 


Gulliver’s travels. 


horses, was to see the rest of my body so very different from 
that of a Yahoo , for which I was obliged to my clothes, 
whereof they had no conception. The sorrel nag offered me 
a root, which he held (after their manner, as we shall 
describe in its proper place) between his hoof and pastern : I 
took it in my hand, and, having smelt it, returned to him as 
civilly as I could. He brought out of the Yahoo’s kennel a piece 
of ass’s flesh, but it smelt so offensively, that I turned from it 
with a loathing : he then threw it to the Yahoo , by whom it 
was greedily devoured. He afterward showed me a wisp of 
hay, and a fetlock full of oats; but I shook my head, to 
signify that neither of these were food for me. And indeed I 
now apprehended that I must absolutely starve if I did not 
get to some of my own species; for as to those filthy Yahoos , 
although there were few greater lovers of mankind at that 
time than myself, yet I confess I never saw any sensitive 
being so detestable on all accounts; and the more I came 
near them the more hateful they grew, while I stayed in that 
country. This the master horse observed by my behaviour, 
and therefore sent the Yahoo back to his kennel. He then 
put his fore-hoof to his mouth, at which I was much sur- 
prised, although he did it with ease, and a motion that 
appeared perfectly natural ; and made other signs to know 
what I would eat; but I could not return him such an 
answer as he was ableito apprehend : and if he had under- 
stood me, I did not see how it was possible to contrive any 
way for finding myself nourishment. While we were thus 
engaged, I observed a cow passing by, whereupon I pointed 
to her, and expressed a desire to go and milk her. This had 
its effect ; for he led me back into the house, and ordered a 
mare-servant to open a room, where a good store of milk lay 
in earthen and wooden vessels, after a very orderly and 
cleanly manner. She gave me a large bowl full, of which I 
drank very heartily, and found myself well refreshed 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 353 


About noon I saw coming towards the house a kind of 
vehicle drawn like a sledge by four Yahoos. There was in 
it an old steed, who seemed to be of quality: he alighted 
with his hind feet forward, having by an accident got a hurt 
in his left fore-foot. He came to dine with our horse, who 
received him with great civility. They dined in the best 
room, and had oats boiled in milk for the second course, 
which the old horse eat warm, but the rest cold. Their man- 
gers were placed circular in the middle of the room, and divi- 
ded into several partitions, round which they sat on their 
haunches, upon bosses of straw. In the middle was a large 
rack, with angles answering to every partition of the man- 
ger ; so that each horse and mare eat their own hay, and their 
own mash of oats and milk, with much decency and regular- 
ity. The behaviour of the young colt and foal appeared very 
modest, and that of the master and mistress extremely cheer- 
ful and complaisant to their guest. The gray ordered me to 
stand by him ; and much discourse passed between him and 
his friend concerning me, as I found by the stranger’s often 
looking on me, and the frequent repetition of the word Yahoo. 

I happened to wear my gloves, which the master gray ob- 
serving, seemed perplexed, discovering signs of wonder what I 
had done to my forefeet: he put his hoof three or four times 
to them as if he would signify, that I should reduce them to 
their former shape, which I presently did, pulling off both 
my gloves, and putting them into my pocket. 

This occasioned farther talk, and I saw the company was 
pleased with my behaviour, whereof I soon found the good 
effects. I was ordered to speak the few words I understood ; 
and while they were at dinner, the master taught me the 
names for oats, milk, fire, water, and some others ; which I 
could readily pronounce after him, having from my youth a 
great facility in learning languages. 

|l When dinner was done, the master horse took me aside, 


354 


Gulliver’s travels. 


and by signs and words made me understand the concern he 
was in that I had nothing to eat. Oats in their tongue are 
called hlunnh. This word I pronounced two or three times ; 
for although T had refused them at first, yet upon second 
thoughts, I considered that I could contrive to make of them, 
a kind of bread, which might be sufficient, with milk, to keep 
me alive, till I could make my escape to some other country, 
and to creatures of my own species. The horse immediately 
ordered a white mare-servant of his family to bring me a 
good quantity of oats in a sort of wooden tray. These I heat- 
ed before the fire, as well as I could, and rubbed them till the 
husks came off, which I made a shift to winnow from the 
grain : I ground and beat them between two stones, and then 
took water, and made . them into a paste or cake, which I 
toasted at the fire, and eat warm with milk. It was at first 
a very insipid diet, though common enough in many parts of 
Europe, but grew tolerable by time ; and having been often 
* reduced to hard fare in my life, this was not the first experi- 
ment I had made how easily nature is satisfied. And I can- 
not but observe, that I never had one hour’s sickness while I 
stayed at this island. It is true, I sometimes made a shift to 
catch a rabbit, or bird, by springes made of Yahoo's hairs ; 
and I often gathered wholesome herbs, which I boiled, and eat 
as salads with my bread ; and now and then, for a rarity, I 
made a little butter, and drank the whey. I was at first at a 
great loss for salt, but custom soon reconciled me to the want of 
it ; and I am confident that the frequent use of salt among 
us is an effect of luxury, and was first introduced only as a 
provocative to drink, except where it is necessary for preserv- 
ing flesh in long voyages, or in places remote from great 
markets; for we observe no animal to be fond of it but man, 
and as to myself, when I left this country, it was a great while 
before I could endure the taste of it in any thing that I eat. 

This is enough to say upon this subject of my diet, where- 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 355 


with other travellers fill their books, as if the readers were 
personally concerned whether we fare well or ill. However, it 
was necessary to mention this matter, lest the world should 
think it impossible that I could find sustenance for three 
years in such a country, and among such inhabitants. 

When it grew towards evening, the master horse ordered a 
place for me to lodge in ; it was about six yards from the 
house, and separated from the stable of the Yahoos. Here I 
got some straw, and covering myself with my own clothes, 
slept very sound. But in a short time I was better accommo- 
dated, as the reader shall know hereafter, when I come to 
treat more particularly about my way of living. 


7 




856 


Gulliver’s travels. 


CHAPTER III. 


The Author studies to learn the language — The Houyhnhnm, his master, assists in 
teaching him — The language described — Several Houyhnhnms of quality come out 
of curiosity to see the Author— He gives his master a short account of his voyage. 


My principal endeavour was to learn the language, which 
my master (for so I shall henceforth call him), and his child- 
ren, and every servant of his house, were desirous to teach 
me : for they looked upon it as a prodigy, that a brute animal 
should discover such marks of a rational creature. I pointed 
to every thing, and inquired the name of it, which I wrote 
down in my journal-book when I was alone, and corrected 
my bad accent, by desiring those of the family to pronounce 
it often. In this employment a sorrel nag, one of the under- 
servants, was very ready to assist me. 

In speaking, they pronounced through the nose and throat, 
and their language approaches nearest to the High-Dutch, or 
German, of any I know in Europe ; but it is much more 
graceful and significant. The Emperor Charles V. made al- 
most the same observation, when he said, “ that if he were to 
speak to his horse, it should be in High-Dutcli.” The curios- 
ity and impatience of my master were so great, that he spent 
manv hours of his leisure to instruct me. He was convinced 
(as he afterward told me) that I must be a Yahoo ; but my 
teachableness, civility, and cleanliness, astonished him ; which 
were qualities altogether opposite to those animals.* He was 
most perplexed about my clothes, reasoning sometimes with 

* “ Qualities opposite to animals,” is a strange mode of expression ; it should be— 
“which were qualities altogether opposite to such as belonged to those animals.”— S. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 357 

himself, whether they were a part of my body ; for I never pull- 
ed them off till the family were asleep, and got them on be- 
fore they waked in the morning. My master was eager to 
learn “whence I came; how I acquired those appearances of 
reason, which I discovered in all my actions ; and to know 
my story from my own mouth, which he hoped he should soon 
do, by the great proficiency I made in learning and pronounc- 
ing their words and sentences.” To help my memory, I form- 
ed all I learned into the English alphabet, and writ the words 
down, with the translations. This last, after some time, I ven- 
tured to do in my master’s presence. It cost me much trouble 
to explain to him wbat I was doing ; for the inhabitants have 
not the least idea of books or literature. 

In about ten weeks’ time, I was able to understand most of 
his questions ; and in three months could give some tolerable 
answers. He was extremely curious to know “ from what 
part of the country I came, and how I w r as taught to imitate 
a rational creature ; because the Yahoos (whom he saw I 
exactly resembled in my head, hand, and face, that were 
only visible),* with some appearance of cunning, and the 
strongest disposition to mischief, w r ere observed to be the 
most unteachable of all brutes. I answered, “ that I came 
over the sea from a far place, with many others of my own 
kind, in a great hollow vessel made of the bodies of trees : 
that my companions forced me to land on this coast, and then 
left me to shift for myself.” It was with some difficulty, and 
by the help of many signs, that I brought him to understand 
me. He replied, “ that I must needs be mistaken, or that I 
said the thing w hich w’as not for they have no w'ord in their 
language to express lying or falsehood. “ He knew it was im- 
possible that there could be a country beyond the sea, or 
that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither 


* “ That were only visible ’ —an ambiguous phrase it should be, M whick enly 
were visible,” &c. — S. 


35S 


gdlliyer’s travels. 

they pleased upon water. He was sure no Houyhnhnms 
alive could make such a vessel, nor would trust Yahoos to 
manage it.” 

The word Houyhnhnm, , in their tongue, signifies a horse , 
and, in its etymology, the perfection of nature. I told my 
master, that “ I was at a loss for expression, but would improve 
as fast as I could ; and hoped in a short time, I should be 
able to tell him wonders.” He was pleased t‘o direct his own 
mare, his colt, and foal, and the servants of the family, to take 
all opportunities of instructing me ; and every day for two or 
three hours, he was at the same pains himself : several horses 
and mares of quality in the neighbourhood came often to our 
house, upon the report spread of “a wonderful Yahoo, that 
could speak like a Houyhnhnm , and seemed, in his words and 
actions, to discover some glimmerings of reason.” These de- 
lighted to converse with me: they put many questions, and 
received such answers as I was able to return. By all these 
advantages I made so great a progress, that, in five months 
from my arrival, I understood whatever was spoken, and 
could express myself tolerable well. 

The Houyhnhnms , who came to visit my master out of a 
design of seeing and talking with me, could hardly believe me 
to be a right Yahoo , because my body had a different cover- 
ing from others of my kind. They were astonished to ob- 
serve me without the usual hair or skin, except on my head, 
face, and hands ; but I discovered that secret to my master 
upon an accident which happened about a fortnight before. 

I have already told the reader, that every night, when the 
family were gone to bed, it was my custom to strip, and 
cover myself with my clothes: it happened one morning 
early, that my master sent for me by the sorrel nag, who 
was his valet; when he came I was fast asleep, my clothes 
fallen off on one side, and my shirt above my waist. I awaked 
at the noise he made, and observed him to. deliver his mes- 


A V O Y A G E TO T HE HO U THNIINM8. 359 


Rage in some disorder ; after which he went to my master, and 
in a great fright gave him a very confused account of what 
ae had seen ; this I presently discovered ; for, going as soon 
as I was dressed to pay my attendance upon his honour, he 
asked me “the meaning of what his servant had reported, that 
I was not the same thing when I slept, as I appeared to be at 
other times ; that his valet assured him, some part of me was 
white, some yellow, at least not so white, and some brown ” 

I had hitherto concealed the secret of my dress, in order 
to distinguish myself, as much as possible, from that cursed 
race of Yahoos ; but now I found it in vain to do so any longer. 
Besides, I considered that my clothes and shoes would soon 
wear out, which already were in a declining condition, and 
must be supplied by some contrivance from the hides of 
Yahoos , or other brutes; whereby the whole secret would be 
known. I therefore told my master, “that in the country 
whence I came, those of my kind always covered their bodies 
with hairs of certain animals prepared by art, as well for 
decency as to avoid the inclemencies of air, both hot and cold : 
of which, as to my own person, I would give him immediate 
conviction, if he pleased to command me : only desiring his 
excuse, if I did not expose those parts that nature taught us 
to conceal ” lie said, “ my discourse was all very strange, but 
especially the last part ; for he could not understand, why 
nature should teach us to conceal what nature had given ; that 
neither himself nor family were ashamed of any- parts of their 
bodies ; but, however, I might do as I pleased.” Whereupon I 
first unbuttoned my coat, and pulled it off. I did the same 
with my waistcoat; I drew off iny shoes, stockings, and breeches; 
I let my shirt down to my waist, and drew up the bottom, fasten, 
ing it like.a girdle about my middle to hide my nakedness. 

My master observed the whole performance with great signs 
of curiosity an 1 admiration. He took up all my clothes in 
his pastern, one piece after another, and examined them dili 


360 


GULLIVERS TRAVELS. 


gently ; he then stroked my body very gently, and looked 
round me several times ; after which, he said, it was plain 1 
must be a perfect Yahoo ; but that I differed very much from 
the rest of my species, in the softness, whiteness, and smooth- 
ness of my skin ; my want of hair on several parts of my 
body ; the shape and shortness of my claws behind and before ; 
and my affectation of walking continually on my two hindei 
feet. He desired to see no more ; and gave me leave to put 
on my clothes again, for I was shuddering with cold. 

I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the 
appellation of Yahoo, an odious animal, for which I had so 
utter a hatred and contempt : I begged he would forbeai 
applying that word to me, and make the same order in his 
family and among his friends whom he suffered to see me. I 
requested likewise, “ that the secret of my having a false cover- 
ing to my body might be known to none but himself, at least 
as long as my present clothing should last ; for, as to what the 
sorrel nag, his valet, had observed, his honour might command 
him to conceal it.” 

All this my master very graciously consented to, and thus 
the secret was kept till my clothes began to wear out, which 
I was forced to supply by several contrivances that shall here- 


after be mentioned. In the mean time, he desired “ I would go 
on with my utmost diligence to learn their language, because 
he was more astonished at my capacity for speech and reason, 
than at the figure of my body, whether it was covered or not;” 
adding, “ that he waited with some impatience to hear the 
wonders which I promised to tell him.” 

Thenceforward he* doubled .the pains he had been at to 
instruct me : he brought me into all company, and made them 
treat me with civility ; “ because,” as he told them privately, 
“ this would put me into good humour, and make me more 
diverting.” 

, Every day, when I waited on him, beside the trouble he 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOL YHNHNM8. 361 


was at in teaching, he would ask me several questions concern- 
ing myself, which I answered as well as I could ; and by these 
means he had already received some general ideas, though 
very imperfect. It would be tedious to relate the several steps 
by which I advanced to a more regular conversation ; but the 
first account I gave of myself in any order and length was 
to this purpose : — 

“ That I came from a very far country, as I already had * 
attempted to tell him, with about fifty more of my own species ; 
that we travelled upon the seas in a great hollow vessel made 
of wood, and larger than his honour’s house. I described the 
ship to him in the best terms I could, and explained, by the 
help of my handkerchief displayed, how it was driven forward 
by the wind. That upon a quarrel among us, I was set on 
shore on this coast, where I walked forward, without knowing 
whither, till he delivered me from the persecution of those 
execrable Yahoos .” He asked me, “ who made the ship, and 
how it was possible that the Houyhnhnms of my country 
would leave it to the management of brutes ?” My answer 
was, “ that I durst proceed no farther in my relation, unless he 
would give me his word and honour that he would not be 
offended, and then I would tell him the wonders I had so often 
promised.” He agreed ; and I went on by assuring him, 

“ that the ship was made by creatures like myself : who, in 
all the countries I had travelled, as well as in my own, were 
the only governing rational animals; and that upon my arrival 
hither,* I was as much astonished to see the Houyhnhnms 
act like rational beings, as he, or his~-fri 1 could be, in find- 



ing some marks of reason in a creature he was pleased to call 
a Yahoo ; to which I owned my resemblance in every part, 
but could not account for their degenerate and brutal nature.” 
I said farther, “ that if good fortune ever restored me to my 

* It should be— “ upon my arrival here,” not “ ariival hither,” which is not 
English.— S. 


-ountry, to relate my travels hither, as I resolved to do, 
e ody would believe, that I said the thing that was not, 
th invented the story out of my own head ; and (with all 
possible respect to himself, his family, and friends, and under 
his promise of not being offended) our countrymen would 
hardly think it probable that a Houyhnhnm should be the pre- 
siding creature of a nation, and a Yahoo the brute.” 


A voy 1Q$ TO J K HOUtflNHNMS. ?(>$ 


CHAPTER. IV. 

The Houyhnhnm’s notion of truth and falsehood — The Author’s discourse disap- 
proved by his master — The Author given a more particular account of himself, 
and the accidents of his voyage. 

My master heard me with great appearances of uneasiness in 
his countenance ; because doubting, or not believing, are so 
little known in this country, that the inhabitants cannot tell 
how to behave themselves under such circumstances ; and I 
remember, in frequent discourses with my master concerning 
the nature of manhood in other parts of the world, having 
occasion to talk of lying and false representation, it was with 
much difficulty that he comprehended what I meant, although 
he had otherwise a most acute judgment. For he argued 
thus : “ that the use of speech was to make us understand one 
another, and to receive information of facts ; now, if any one 
said the thing which was not, these ends were defeated, because 
I cannot properly be said to understand him ; and I am so far 
from receiving information, that he leaves me worse than in 
ignorance, for I am led to believe a thing black, when it is 
white, short when it is long.” And these were all the notions he 
had concerning that faculty of lying, so perfectly well under- 
stood, and so universally practised, among human creatures. 

To return from this digression. When I asserted that the 
Yahoos were the only governing animals in my country, which 
my master said was altogether past his conception, he desired 
to know, “ whether we had Houyhnhnms among as, and what 
was their employment I told him, “ we had great numbers 


364 


* ulliyee’s travels. 


that in summer they grazed in the fields, and in winter were kept 
in houses with hay and oats, where Yahoo servants were 
employed to rub their skins smooth, comb their manes, pick 
their feet, serve them with food, and make their beds.” “ I 
understand you well,” said my master; “ it is now very plain, 
from all you have spoken, that whatever share of reason the 
Yahoos pretend to, the Houyhnhnms are your masters ; I 
% heartily wish our Yahoos would be so tractable.” I begged 
“ his honour would please to excuse me from proceeding any 
farther, because I was very certain that the account he expected 
from me would be highly displeasing.” But he insisted in 
commanding* me to let him know the best and the worst. 
I told him “ he should be obeyed.” I owned “ that the Houy- 
hnhnms among us, whom we called horses, were the most 
generous and comely animals we had ; that they excelled in 
strength and swiftness : and when they belonged to persons of 
quality, ‘were employed in travelling, racing, or drawing 
chariots ; they were treated with much kindness and care, till 
they fell into diseases, or became foundered in the feet: but 
then they were sold, and used to all kind of drudgery till they 
died ; after which their skins were stripped, and sold for what 
they were worth, and their bodies left to be devoured by dogs 
and birds of prey. But the common race of horses had not 
so good fortune, being kept by fanners and carriers, and other 
mean people, who put them to greater labour, and fed them 
worse.” I described, as well as I could, our way of riding ; 
the shape and use of a bridle, a saddle, a spur, and a whip ; 
of harness and wheels. I added, “ that we fastened plates of a 
certain hard substance, called iron, at the bottom of their 
feet, to preserve their hoofs from being broken by the stony 
ways, on which we often travelled.” 

My master, after some expressions of great indignation, 

* “ Insisted in commanding” is not English ; it should be, “ persisted in command* 
ng,” Ac. — S. 


A VOYAGE TC THE HOtJYHN HNMS. 265 


wondered “ how we dared to venture upon a HouyhnhmrC s 
back ; for he was sure, that the weakest servant in his house 
would be able to shake off the strongest Yahoo ; or by lying 
down, and rolling on his back, squeeze the brute to death.’' 
I answered, “ that our horses were trained up, from three or 
four years old, to the several uses we intended them for ; that 
if any of them proved intolerably vicious, they were employed 
for carriages ; that they were severely beaten, while they were 
young, for any mischievous tricks ; that the males, designed 
for the common use of riding or draught, were generally cas- 
trated about two years after their birth, to take down their 
spirits, and make them more tame and gentle ; that they were 
indeed sensible of rewards and punishments : but his honour 
would please to consider, that they had not the least tincture 
of reason, any more than the Yahoos in this country.” 

It put me to the pains of many circumlocutions, to give 
my master a right idea of what I spoke ; for their language 
does not abound in variety of words, because tbeir wants and 
passions are fewer than among us. But it is impossible to 
express his noble resentment at our savage treatment of the 
Houyhnhnm race ; particularly after I had explained the man- 
ner and use of castrating horses among us, to hinder them from 
propagating their kind, and to render them more servile. 
He said, “ if it were possible there could be any country where 
Yahoos alone were endued with reason, they certainly must 
be the governing animal ; because reason in time will always 
prevail. against brutal strength. But, considering the frame 
of our bodies, and especially of mine, he thought no creature 
of equal bulk was so ill contrived for employing that reason 
in the common offices of life;” whereupon he desired to know 
“ whether those among whom I lived resembled me or the 
Yahoos of this country.” 1 assured him, “ that I was as well 
shaped as most of my age ; but the younger, and the females, 
were much more soft and tender, and the skins of the latter 


366 


Gulliver’s travels. 


generally as white as milk.” He said, “ I differed indeed from 
other Yahoos , being much more cleanly, and not altogethei 
so deformed ; but, in point of real advantage, he thought I 
differed for the worse ; that my nails were of no use either to 
my fore or hinder feet : as to my fore feet, he could not 
properly call them by that name, for he never observed ine 
to walk upon them ; that they were too soft to bear the 
ground ; that I generally went with them uncovered ; neither 
was the covering I sometimes wore on them of the same shape, 
or so strong as that on my feet behind : that I could not walk 
with any security, for if either of my hinder feet slipped, I 
must inevitably fall.” He then began to find fault with other 
parts of my body ; the flatness of my face, the prominence of 
my nose, mine eyes, placed directly in front, so that I could 
not look on either side, without turning my head : that I was 
not able to feed myself, without lifting one of ray fore-feet to 
my mouth ; and therefore nature had placed those joints to 
answer that necessity. He knew not what could be the use 
of those several clefts and divisions, in my feet behind ; that 
these were too soft to bear the hardness and sharpness of stones, 
without a covering made from the skin of Some other brute ; 
that my whole body wanted a fence against heat and cold, 
which I was forced to put on and off every day, with tedious- 
ness and trouble : and lastly, that he observed every animal in 
this country naturally to abhor the Yahoos , whom the weaker 
avoided, and the stronger drove from them. So that, suppos- 
ing us to have the gift of reason, he could not see how it were 
possible to cure that natural antipathy which every creature 
discovered against us ; nor consequently how we could tame 
ind rendei* them serviceable. However, “ he would,” as he 
said, “ debate the matter no farther, because he was more 
desirous to know my own story, the country where I was born, 
and the several actions and events of my life, before I came 
hither.” 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 367 


I assured him “ how extremely desirous I was that he should 
De satisfied on every point ; but I doubled much, whether it 
would be possible for me to explain myself on several subjects, 
whereof his honour could have no conception ; because I saw 
nothing in his country to which I could resemble them : that, 
however, I would do my best, and strive to express myself by 
similitudes, humbly desiring his assistance when I wanted pro- 
per words ; which he was pleased to promise me.” 

i said, “ my birth was of honest parents, in an island called 
England ; which was remote from his country, as many days’ 
journey as the strongest of his honour’s servants could travel, 
in the annual course of the sun : that I was bred a surgeon, 
whose trade it is to cure woupds and hurts in the body, gotten 
by accident or violence ; that my country was governed by a 
female man, whom we call queen ; that I left it to get riches, 
whereby I might maintain myself and family, when I should 
return ; that, in my last voyage, I was commander of the ship, 
and had about fifty. Yahoos under me, many of which died at 
sea, and I was -forced to supply them by others picked out 
from several nations ; that our ship was twice in danger of 
being sunk, the first time by a great storm, and the second by 
striking against a rock.” Here my master interposed, by ask- 
ing me, “ how I could persuade strangers, out of different 
countries, to venture with me, after the losses I had sustained, 
and the hazards I had run.” I said, “ they were fellows of des- 
perate fortunes, forced to fly from the places of their birth on 
account of their poverty or their crimes. Some were undone 
by lawsuits ; others spent all they had in drinking, whoring 
and gaming; others fled for treason ; many for murder, theft, 
poisoning, robbery, perjury, forgery, coining false -money; for 
committing rapes, or sodomy ; for flying from their colours, or 
deserting to the enemy ; and most of them had broken prison ; 
none of these durst return to their native countries, for fear of 


368 


Gulliver’s travels. 


being hanged, or of starving in a jail : and therefore they were 
under the necessity of seeking a livelihood in other places.” 

During this discourse, my master was pleased to interrupt 
me several times. I had made use of many circumlocutions 
in describing to him the nature of the several crimes for which 
most of our crew had been forced to fly their country. This 
labour took up several days’ conversation, before he was able 
to comprehend me. lie w as wholly at a loss to know what 
could be the use or necessity of practising those vices. To 
clear up which, I endeavoured to give some ideas of the de- 
"Nsire of power and riches ; of the terrible effects of lust, intem- 
perance, malice, and envy. All this I was forced to define 
and describe by putting cases, and making* suppositions. 
After which, like one whose imagination was struck with 
something never seen or heard of before, he would lift up his 
eyes with amazement and indignation. Power, government, 
war, law', punishment, and a thousand other things, had no 
terms, wherein that language could express them ; which made 
the difficulty almost insuperable, to give my master any con- 
ception of what I meant. But being of an excellent under- 
standing, much improved by contemplation and converse, he 
at last arrived at a competent knowledge of what human 
nature, in our part of the world, is capable to perform ; and 
desired I would give him some particular account of that 
land we call Europe, but especially of my own country. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 369 




CHAPTER V. 


The Author, at his master’s commands', informs him of the state of England — The 
causes of war among the princes of Europe — The author begins to explain the 
English constitution. 

The reader may please to observe, that the following ex- 
tract of many conversations I had with my master, contains a 
summary of the most material points which were discouised 
at several times for above two years ; his honor often desiring 
fuller satisfaction, as I farther improved in the Houyhnhnm 
tongue, I laid before him, as well as I could, the whole siate 
of Europe ; I discoursed of trade and manufactures, of arts 
and sciences ; and the answers I gave to all the questions he 
made, as they arose upon several subjects, were a fund of con- 
versation not to be exhausted. But I shall here only set 
down the substance of what passed between us concerning my 
own country, reducing it in order as well as I can, without 
any regard to time or other circumstances, while I strictly 
adhere to truth. My only concern is, that I shall hardly be 
able to do justice to my master’s arguments and expressions, 
which must suffer by my want of capacity, as well as by a 
translation into our barbarous-JSnglish. 

In obedience therefore to his honor’s commands, I related 
to him the revolution under the Prince of Orange ; the long 
war with France, entered into by the said prince, and renewed 
by his successor, the present queen : wherein the greatest 
powers of Christendom were engaged, and which still contiu 
/ 16 * 


370 


gulliyer’s travels. 


tied ; I. computed at his request, “that about a million of 
Yahoos might have been killed in the whole progress of it; 
and perhaps a hundred or more cities taken, and five times as 
mail) ships burnt or sunk.” 

He asked me, “what were the usual causes or motives that 
made One country go to war with another ?” I answered ,“ 
they were innumerable ; but I should only mention a few of 
the chief. Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never 
think they have land or people enough to govern ; sometimes 
the corruption of ministers, who engage their masters in a 
war, in order to stifle or divert the clamour of the subjects 
against their evil administration. Difference in opinions has 
cost many million of lives; for instance, whether flesh be 
bread, or bread be flesh ; whether the juice of a certain berry 
be blood or wine ;* whether whistling be a vice or a virtue ;t 
whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire;J 
what is the best colour for a coat, whether black, white, red, 
or gray ; and whether it should be long or short, narrow or 
wide, dirty or clean, with many more.§ Neither are any wars 
so furious and bloody, or of so long continuance, as those oc 
^asioned by difference in opinion, especially if it be in things 
indifferent. 

“ Sometimes the quarrel between two prinqps is to" decide 
which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where 
neither of them pretends to any right : sometimes one prince 
.quarrels with another, for fear the other should quarrel with 
him ; sometimes a war is entered upon, because the enemy is 
too strong, and sometimes, because he is too weak ; sometimes 
""'Our neighbours want the things which we have, or have the 
things which we want, and we both fight, till they take ours, 
or give us theirs. It is a very justifiable cause of war, to in- 

* Transubstantiatidh. — H. 

■f Church music. — H. $ Kissing a cross.— U. §The colour and make of 

sacred vestments, and different orders of popish ecclesiastics. — H 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 371 


vade a country after the people have been wasted by famine, 
destroyed by pestilence, or embroiled by factions among them- 
selves. It is justifiable to enter into war against our nearest 
ally, when one of his towns lies convenient for us, or a terri- 
tory of land, that would render our dominions round and 
compact. If a prince sends forces into a nation, where the 
people are poor and ignorant, he may lawfully put half of 
them to death, and make slaves of the rest, in order to civil- 
ize and reduce them from their barbarous way of living.; It 
is a very kingly, honourable, and frequent practice, when one 
prince desires the assistance of another, to secure him against 
an invasion, that the assistant, when he has driven out the in- 
vader, should seize on the dominions himself, and kill, impri- 
son, or banish the prince he came to relieve. Alliance by 
blood, or marriage, is a frequent cause of war between princes ; 
and the nearer the kindred is, the greater their disposition to 
quarrel : poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proudr^ 
and. pride and hunger will ever be at variance. For these 
reasons, the trade of a soldier is held the most honourable of 
all others, because a soldier is a Yahoo hired to kill, in cold 
blood, as many of his own species, who have never offended 
him, as possibly he ca vef^ 

“There is likewise a kind of beggarly princes in Europe, not 
able to make war by themselves, who hire out their troops to 
richer nations, for so much a daj^to each man ; of which they 
keep three-fourths to themselves, and it is the best part of 
their maintenance ; such as those in many northern parts of 
Europe.” 

“ What you have told me,” said my master, “ upon the sub- 
ject of war, does indeed discover most admirably the effects 
of that reason yOu pretend to : however, it is happy that the 
^hame is greater than the danger; and that nature has left 
you utterly incapable of doing much mischief. For, your 
mouths lying flat with your faces, you can hardly bite each 


S7£ Q U L L i R ’ B TRAVELS. 

other to rp unless by consent. Then as to the claws 

upon yo . - a before and behind, they are so short and tender, 
that one ot our Yahoos wfculd drive a dozen of yours before 
him. And therefore, in recounting the numbers of those who 
have been killed in battle, I cannot but think you have said 
the thing which is not.” . . 

I could not forbear shaking my head, and smiling a little 
at his ignorance. And being no stranger to the art of war, 
I gave him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, cara- 
bines, pistols, bullets, powder, sw'ords, bayonets battles, sieges, 
retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments 
sea fights, ships sunk with a thousand men, twenty thousand 
killed on each side, dying groans, limbs flying in the air, smoke, 
noise, confusion, trampling to death under horses’ feet, flight, 
pursuit, victory ; fields strewed with carcases left for food to 
dogs, and wolves, and birds of prey ; plundering, stripping, 
ravishing, burning, and destroying. And to set forth the 
valour of my own dear countrymen, I assured him, “ that 
I had seen them blow up a hundred enemies at once in a siege, 
and as many in a ship ; and beheld the dead bodies drop down in 
pieces from the clouds, to the great diversion of the spectators.”* 

I was going on to more particulars, when ray master com- 


* It would perhaps be impossible, by the most laboured argument, or forcible 
eloquence, to shew the absurd injustice and horrid cruelty of war so effectually, 
as by this simple exhibition of them ip a new light ; with war, including every 
species of iniquity and every art of destruction, we become familiar, by degrees, 
under specious terms, which are seldom examined, because they are learned at an 
age in which the mind implicitly receives and retains whatever is impressed: thus it 
happens, that when one man murders another to gratify his lust, we shudder ; 
but when one man murders a million to gratify h|s vanity, we approve and 
we admire, we envy and we applaud. If when this andthF preceding pages 
are read, we discover with astonishment, that when the same events have occurred in 
history we felt no emotion, and acquiesce in wars which we could not but know 
to have been commenced for such causes, and carried on by such means ; let not 
him be censured for too much debasing his species, who has contributed to their 
felicity and preservation, by stripping off the veil of custom and prejudice, and 
holding up in their native-deformity the vices by which they become wretched, an 3 
the arts by wtich they are destroyed. — H. 


A VOYAGE TO THE 30UTHNL N MS. 373 


manded me silence. He said, “ whoever understood the nature 
of Y ihoos , might easily believe it possible for so vile an 
animal to be capable of every action I had named, if their 
strength and cunning equalled their malice. But as my dis- 
course had increased his abhorrence of the whole species, so 
he found it gave him a disturbance in his mind, to which he was 
wholly a stranger before. He thought his ears, being used 
to such abominable words, might, by degrees admit them with 
less detestation : that although he hated the Yahoos of this 
country, yet he no more blamed them for their odious quali- 
ties, than he did a gnnayh (a, bird of prey) for its cruelty, or 
a sharp stone for cutting his hoof. But, when a creature pre- 
tending to reason could be capable of such enormities, he 
dreaded lest the corruption of that faculty might be worse 
than brutality itself. He seemed therefore confident, that, 
instead of reason, we were only possessed of some quality, 
fitted to increase our natural vices ; as the reflection from a 
troubled stream returns the image of an ill-shapen body, not 
only large but more distorted.” 

He added, “ that he tad heard too much upon the subject 
of war, both in this and some former discourses. There was 
another point, which a little perplexed him at present I had 
informed him, that some of our crew left their country on 
account of being ruined by law ; that I had already explained 
the meaning of the word ; but he was at a loss how it should 
come to pass, that the law, which was intended for every manV 
preservation, should b e any man’s ruin. Therefore he desired 
to be farther satisfied what I meant by law, and the dispensers 
thereof, according to the present practice in my own country ; 
because he thought nature and reason were sufficient guides 
for a reasonable animal, as we pretended to be, in shewing us 
what we ought to do, and what to avoid.” 

I assured his honour, that law was a science, in which I 
had not much conversed, farther than by employing advocates 


S . GULIVER’s TRAVELS. 

in vain, upon some injustices it had been done me : however 
I would give him all the satisfaction I was able.” 

1 said, “ tin? re was aqjbciety of men among us, bred up 
from eh youth in the art • proving, by words multiplied 
'" 'for the purpose, -that white is black, and black is white, accord- 
ing as they are paid? J To this society all the rest of the peo- 
pi> are slaves? [ For example, if my neighbour has a mind to 
my cow, he has a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my 
cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right, 
it being against all rules of law that any man should be 
allowed to speak for himself } ‘Now, in this case, I, who am 
the right owner, lie under two great disadvantages : first, my 
lawyer, being practised almost from his cradle in defending 
^-falsehood, is quite out of his element when he would be an 
advocate jor j ustic e, which is an unnatural office he always 
attempts with great awkwardness, if not with ill will. The 
second disadvantage is, that my lawyer must proceed with 
great caution, or else he will be reprimanded by the judges, 
and abhorred by his brethren, as one that would lessen the 
practice of the law*. \ And therefore I have but two methods 
to preserve my cow. The first is, to gain over my adversary’s 
lawyer with a double fe e, who will then betray his client by 
insinuating that he has justice on his side. The second way 
is for my lawyer to make my cause appear as unjust as he can 
by allowing the cow to belong to my adversary : and this, if 
it be skilfully done, will certainly bespeak the favour of the 
bench. Now -your honour is to know, that these judges are 
-persons appointed to decide all controversies of property, as 
well as for the trial of criminals, and picked out from the most 
dexterous lawyers, wh o have grown old or lazy ; and having 
been biassed all their lives against truth and equity, lie under 
such a fatal necessity of favouring fraud, perjury, and oppres- 
sion, that I have known some of them refu se a large bribe 
from the side where justice Jay, rather than injure the 


A VOYAGE TO T IT E HOUYFNHNM8. 37S 


faculty, by doing any thing unbecoming their nature or their 
office. 

“It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever has 
been done before, may legally be done again ; ( and therefore 
they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made 
against common justice, and the general reason of mankind. 
These, under the name of precedents, they produce as authori- 
ties to justify the most iniquitous opinions : and the judges 
never fail of directing accordingly^ 

“ In pleading, they studiously avoid entering into the merits 
of the cause; but are loud, violent, and tedious, in dwelling 
upon all circumstances which are $ot~to the purpose. For 
instance, in the case already mentioned ; they never desire to 
know what claim or title my adversary has to my cow ; but 
whether the said cow were red or black ; her horns long or 
short ; whether the field I graze her in be round or square ; 
whether she was milked at home or abroad ; what diseases she 
is subject to, and the like; after which they consult precedents, 
adjourn the cause from time to time, and in ,ten, twenty, or 
thirty years, come to an issue. 

“ It is likewise to be observed, that this society has a 
peculiar cant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal 
can understand, and wherein all their laws are written, which 
they take special care to multiply ; whereby they have wholly 
confounded the very essence of truth and falsehood, of right 
and wrong ; so that it will take thirty years to decide, whether 
the field, left me by my ancestors for six generations, belongs 
to me, or to a stranger, three hundred miles off. 1 

“In the trial of persons accused for crimes against the 
state, the method is much more short and commendable : the 
judge first sends to sound the disposition of those in power, 
after which he can easily hang or save a criminal, strictly pre- 
serving all due forms of law.” . 

Here my master interposing, said, “ it was a pity, that crea 


376 * 


gullivek’s travels. 


tures endowed with such prodigious abilities of mind, as these 
lawyers, by the description I gave of them, must certainly be, 
were not rather encouraged to be instructors of others in wis- 
dom and knowledge.” In answer to which I assured his 
honour, “ that in all points out of their own trade, they were 
usually the most ignorant and stupid generation among us, 
the most despicable in common conversation, avowed enemies 
to all knowledge and learning, and equally disposed to pervert 
the general reason of mankind, in every other subject of dis- 
course as in that of their own profession.” 


CHAPTER. VI. 


A tfouuuuation of ihe state in England under Queen Anne — The character of a 
fii st minister of state in European courts. 

My master was yet wholly at a loss to understand what mo- 
tives could incite this race of lawyers to perplex, disquiet, and 
weary themselves, and engage in a confederacy of injustice, 
merely for the sake of injuring their fellow-animals ; neither 
could he comprehend what I meant in saying, they did it for 
hire/ Whereupon I was at much pains to describe to him 
the use of money, the materials it was made of; and the value 
of the metals ; “ that when a Yahoo had got a great store of 
this precious substance, he was able to purchase whatever li6 
had a mind to, the finest clothing, the noblest houses, great 
tracts of land, the most costly meats and drinks ; and have 
his choice of the most beautiful females. Therefore, since 
money alone was able to perform all these feats, our Yahooa 
thought they could never have enough of it to spend, or to 
save, as they found themselves inclined, from their natural bent 
either to pcgfusion or avarice. That the rich man enjoyed 
-^ihe fruit of the poor man’s labour, and the latter were a 
thousand to one in proportion to the former. That the bulk 
of our people were forced to live very miserably, by labouring 
every day for small wages, to make a few live plentifully. 

I enlarged myself much on these, and many other particulars 
to the same purpose ; but his honour was still to seek ; for ha 
went upon a supposition that all animals had a title to thd) 


378 


GCLLI. VEK b r AVEL3. 


share in the productions of die earth, and especially those 
who pr< ed over the rest. Therefore he desired 1 would let 
him know, “ what these costly meats were, and how any of us 
happened to want them?” Whereupon I enumerated as 
many sorts as came into my head, with the various methods 
of dressing them, which could not be done without sending 
vessels by sea to every part of the world, as well for liquors 
to drink as for sauces and innumerable other conveniences. 
I assured him, “ that this whole globe of earth must be at least 
three times gone round, before one of our better female Yahoos 
could get her breakfast, or a cup to put it in.” He said, 
“ that must needs be a miserable country, which cannot furnish 
food for its own inhabitants. But what he chiefly wondered 
Oat was, how such vast tracts of ground as I described should 
C be wholly without fresh water, and the people put to the 
necessity of sending over the sea for drink.” I replied, “ that 
England (the dear place of my nativity) was computed to 
produce three times the quantity of food more than its inhabi- 
tants are able to consume, as well as liquors extracted from 
grain, or pressed out of the fruit of certain trees, which made 
excellent drink ; and the same proportion in every other con- 
venience of life. But, in order to feed the luxury and intem- 
perance of the males, and the vanity of the females, we sent 
away the greatest part of our necessary things to other coun- 
tries, whence in return we brought the materials of diseases, 
folly, and vice, to spend among ourselves. Hence it 
follows of necessity that vast numbers of our people are com- 
pelled to seek their livelihood by begging, robbing, stealing, 
cheating, pi mping , flattering, suborning, forswearing, forging, 
gaming, lying, fawning, hectoring, voting, scrbibling, star- 
gazing, poisoning, whoring, canting, libelling, free-thinking, 
and the like occupations :” very one of which terms I was 
at much pains to make him understand. 

“ That wine was not imported among us from foreign coun 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 379 


tries, to supply the want of water or other drinks, but because 
it was a sort of liquid which made us merry, by putting us 
out of our senses, diverted all melancholy thoughts, begat 
wild extravagant imaginations in the brain, raised our hopes 
and banished our fears, suspended every office of reason for a 
time, and deprived us of the use of our limbs, till we fell into 
a profound sleep ; although it must be confessed that we 
always awaked sick and dispirited ; and that the use of this 
liquor filled us with diseases, which made our lives uncomforta- 
ble and short. 

“But besides all this, the bulk of our people supported 
themselves by furnishing the necessities or conveniences ol 
life to the rich, and to each other. For instance, when I am 
at home, and dressed as I ought to be, I carry on my body 
the workmanship of a hundred tradesmen ; the building and 
furniture of my house employ as many more, and five times 
the number to adorn my wife.” 

I was going on to tell him of another sort of people, who 
get their livelihood by attending the sick, having, upon some 
occasions, informed his honor, that many of my crew had 
died of diseases. But, here it was with the utmost difficulty 
that I brought him to apprehend what I meant. “ He could 
easily conceive, that a Houyhnhmn grew weak and heavy a 
few days before his death, or by some accident might hurt a 
limb ; but that nature, who works all things to perfection, 
should suffer any pains to breed in our bodies, he thought im- 
possible, and desired to know the reason of so unaccountable 
an evil.” 

I told him “ we fed on a thousand things, which operated ^ 
contrary to each other ; that we eat when we were not hun- 
gry, and drank without the provocation of thirst; that we sat 
whole nights drinking strong liquors, without eating a bit 
which disposed us to sloth, inflamed our bodies, and precipita 
ted or prevented digestion. That prostitute female Yahoos 


380 


Gulliver’s travels. 


acquired a certain malady, which bred rottenness in the bones 
of those who fell into their embraces ; that this, and many 
other diseases, were propagated from father to son ; so that great 
numbers come into the world with complicated maladies upon 
them : that it would be endless to give him a catalogue of all 
diseases incident to human bodies, for they would not be fewer 
than five or six hundred, spread over every limb and joint — 
in short, every part, external and intestine, having diseases 
appropriated to itself. To remedy which, there was a sort of 
people bred hp among us in the profession, on pretence of 
curing the sick. And because I had some skill in the faculty, 
I would, in gratitude to his honour, let him know the whole 
mystery and method by which they proceed. 

“ Their fundamental is, that all diseases arise from repletion ; 
whence they conclude, that a great evacuation of the body is 
necessary, either through the natural passage or upwards at 
the mouth. Their next business is, from herbs, minerals, 
gums, oils, shells, salts, juices, seaweed, excrements, barks of 
trees, serpents, toads, frogs, spiders, dead men’s flesh and bones, 
birds, beasts, and fishes, to form a composition, for smell and 
taste, the most abominable, nauseous, and detestable, they 
can possibly contrive, which the stomach immediately rejects 
with loathing, and this they call a vomit; or else, from the 
same storehouse, with some other poisonous additions, they 
command us to take in at the orifice above or below (just as 
the physician then happens to be disposed) a medicine equally 
annoying and disgustful to the bowels ; which, relaxing the 
belly, drives down all before it ; and this they call a purge or 
clyster. For nature (as the physicians allege) having intend- 
ed the superior anterior orifice only for the intromission of 
solids and liquids, and the inferior posterior for ejection • 
these artists* ingeniously considering, that in all diseases na- 

* “ These artists,” is a nominative, without any verb to which it refers in the 
remainder of the sentence — S. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNM9. 8 1 


ture is forced out of her seat, therefore, to replace her in it, 
the body must be treated in a manner directly co ' . .y, by 
interchanging the use of each orifice ; forcing | ; o!ids and 
liquids in at the anus, and making evacuations at p j mouth. 

“ But, besides real diseases, we are subject to many that are 
only imaginary, for which the physicians have in ve 1 \ ig- 
inary cures ; these have their several names, and so have the 
drugs that are proper for them ; and with these our female 
Yahoos are always infested. 

M One great excellency in this tribe, is their skill at prognos- 
tics, wherein they seldom fail ; their predictions in real diseases, 
when they rise to any degree of malignity, generally por- 
tending death, which is always in their power, when recovery 
is not : and therefore, upon any unexpected signs of amend- 
ment, after they pronounced their sentence, rather than be 
accused as false prophets, they know how to approve their 
sagacity to the world, by a seasonable dose. 

“ They are likewise of special use to husbands and wives 
who are grown weary of their mates ; to eldest sons, to great 
ministers of state, and often to princes.” 

I had formerly, upon occasions, discoursed with my master 
upon the nature of government in general, and particularly o • 
our own excellent constitution, deservedly the wonder and 
envy of the whole world. But having here accidentally men 
tioned a minister of state, he commanded me some time after 
to inform him, what species of Yahoo I particularly meant by 
that appellation. 

I told him, “ that a first or chief minister of state, who was 
the person I intended to describe, was a creature wholly ex- 
empt from joy and grief, love and hatred, pity and anger : at 
least makes use of no other passions, but a violent desire of 
•wealth, power, and titles ; that he applies his word to all uses, 
except to the indication of his mind ; that he never tells a 
truth but with an intent that you should take it for a lie 


gulliver’f travels. 

lie, but with a design that you should take it for a 
:nith ; f.hat those he speaks worst of behind their backs are in 
the surest way of preferment; and whenever he begins to 
praise you to others, or to yourself, you are from that day 
forlorn. The w orst mark you can receive is a promise, espec- 
ially when it is confirmed with an oath ; after which every 
wise man retires, and gives over all hopes. 

“ There are three methods, by which a man may rise to be 
chief minister. The first is, by knowing how, with prudence, 
to dispose of a wife, a daughter, or a sister : the second, by 
betraying or undermining his predecessor : and the third is, 
by a furious zeal, in public assemblies, against the corruptions 
of the court. But a wise prince would rather choose to em- 
ploy those who practise the last of these methods ; because 
such zealots prove always the most obsequious and subservient 
to the will and passions of their master. That these minis- 
ters, having all employments at their disposal, preserve them- 
selves in power, by bribing the majority of a senate or great 
council; and at last, by an expedient, called an act of indem- 
nity (whereof I described the nature to him), they secure them- 
selves from after-reckonings, 'and retire from the public, laden 
with the spoils of the natj^n. 

“The palace of a chief minister is a seminary to breed up 
others in his own trade : the pages, lackeys, and porters, by 
imitating their master, become ministers of state in their sev- 
eral districts, and learn to excel in the three principal ingre- 
dients, of insolence, lying, and bribery. Accordingly, they 
have a subaltern court paid to them by persons of the best 
rank; and sometimes, by the force of dexterity and impu- 
dence, arrive, through several gradations, to be successors 
10 their lord. 

“ lie is usually governed by a decayed wench, or favourite 
footman, who are the tunnels, through which all graces aro 


A VOYAGE TO THE 30UYIINIINMS. 383 

conveyed, and may properly be called, in the last resort, the 
governors of the kingdom.” 

One day in discourse, my master, having heard me mention 
the nobility of my country, was pleased to make me a com- 
pliment, which I could not pretend to deserve : “ that he was 
sure I must have been born of some noble family, because I 
far exceeded in shape, colour, and cleanliness, all the Yahoos 
of his nation, although I seemed to fail in strength and agil- 
ity, which must be imputed to my different way of living 
from those other brutes ; and besides, I was not only endow- 
ed with the faculty of speech, but besides with some rudi- 
ments of reason, to a degree that with all his acquaintance I 
passed for a prodigy.” 

He made me observe, “that among the Hmyhnhnms , the 
white, the sorrel, and the iron-grey, were not so exactly 
shaped as the bay, the dapple-grey, and the black ; nor born 
with equal talents of mind, or & capacity to improve them ; 
and therefore continued always in the condition of servants, 
without ever aspiring to match out of their own race, which 
in that country would be reckoned monstrous and unnatu- 
ral.” 

I made his honour my most humble acknowledgments *br 
the good opinion he was pleased to conceive of me ; but 
assured him, at the same time, that, my birth was of the lower 
sort, having been born of plain, honest parents, who were 
just able to give me a tolerable education : that nobility, 
amongst us, was altogether a different thing from the idea he 
had of it; tnat our young nobiemen are bred from their 
childhood in idleness and luxury ; that as soon as years will 
permit, they consume their vigour, and contract odious dis- 
eases among iewd females : and when their fortunes are almost 
ruined, they marry some woman of mean birth, disagreeable 
person, and unsound constitution (merely for the sake of 
money), whom they hate and despise. That the production? 


384 : GULLIVKU TRAVELS. 

of such marriages are generally scrofulous, ricketty, 01 de« 
formed children ; by which means the family seldom contin- 
ues above three generations, unless the wife takes care to pro- 
vide a healthy father, among her neighbours or domestics, in 
order to improve and continue the breed. That a weak dis- 
eased body, a meagre countenance, and sallow complexion, 
are the true marks of noble blood ; and a healthy robust ap- 
pearance is sp^disgraceful in a man of quality, that the world 
concludes his real father to have been a groom or a coach- 
mon. The imperfections of his mind run parallel with those 
of his body, being a composition of spleen, dulness, ignorance, 
caprice, sensuality, and pride. 

“ Without the consent of this illustrious body, no law can 
he enacted, repealed or altered : and these nobles have like- 
rw 8 the decision of ali our possessions without appeal.” 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUTHNIINMS. 385 


CHAPTER VH. 


Th“ Author’s great love of his native country — His master’s observations upon tti® 
constitution and administration of England, as described by the Author, with 
parallel cases and comparisons — His master’s observations upon human na- 
ture. 

The reader may be disposed to wonder bow I could pre- 
vail on myself to give so free a representation of my own spe- 
cies, among a race of mortals who are already too apt to con- 
• ceive the vilest opinion of human kind, from that entire con- 
gruity between me and their Yahoos. But I must freely con- 
fess, that the many virtues of those excellent quadrupeds, 
placed in opposite view to human corruptions, had so far 
opened my eyes and enlarged my understanding, that I began 
to view the actions and passions of man in a very different 
light, and to think the honour of my own kind not worth 
managing ; which, besides, it was impossible for me to do, 
before a person of so acute a judgment as my master, who 
daily convinced me of a thousand faults in myself, whereof I 
had not the least perception before, and which, with us, would 
never be numbered even among human infirmities. I had 
likewise learned, from his example, an Utter detestation of all 
falsehood or disguise ; and truth appeared so amiable to me, 
that I determined upon sacrificing everything to it. 

Let me deal so candidly with the reader as to confess that 
there was yet a much stronger motive for the freedom I took 
in my representation of things. I had not yet been a year 
in this country before I contracted such a love and veneratiou 

17 


Gulliver's travels. 

for the inhabitants, that I entered on a firm resolution never 
to return to human kind, but to pass the rest of my life among 
the admirable Houyhnhnms , in the contemplation and prac- 
tice of every virtue ; where I could have no example or incite- 
ment to vice. But it was decreed by fortune, my perpetual 
enemy, that so great a felicity should not fall to my share. 
Howpver, it is now some comfort to reflect, that in what I 
said of my countrymen, I extenuated their faults as much as 
I durst before so strict an examiner ; and upon every article 
crave as favourable a turn as the matter would bear. For, 
indeed, who is there alive that will not be swayed by his bias 
and partiality to the place of his birth ? 

I have related the substance of several conversations I 
had with my master, during the greatest part of the time I 
had the honour to be in his service ; but have, indeed, for 
brevity sake, omitted much more than is here set down. 

When I had answered all his questions, and his curiosity 
seemed to be fully satisfied, he sent for me one morning 
early, and commanded me to sit down at some distance (an 
honour which he had never before conferred upon me). He 
said, “ he had been very seriously considering my whole 
story, as far as it related both to myself and to my country : 
that he looked upon us as a sort of animals, to whose share, 
by what accident he could not conjecture, some small pit- 
tance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use, 
than by its assistance to aggravate our natural corruptions, 
and to acquire new ones, which nature had not given us; 
that we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she had 
bestowed ; had been very successful in multiplying our orig- 
inal wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain en- 
deavours to supply them by our own inventions. That as to 
myself, it was manifest I had neither the strength nor agility 
of a common Yahoo ; that I walked infirmly on my hinder, 
feet ; had found out a contrivance to make my claws of no 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOtJYHNHNMS. 387 


use or defence, and to remove the hair from my chin, which 
was intended as a shelter from the sun and the weather. 
Lastly, that I could neither run with speed, nor climb trees, 
like my brethren,” as he called them, “ the Yahoos in his 
country.” 

“That our institutions of government and law were plainly 
owing to our gross defects in reason, and by consequence jn vir- 
tue ; because reason alone is sufficient to govern a rational crea- 
ture ; which was therefore a character we had no pretence to 
challenge, even from the account I had given of my own people ; 
although be manifestly perceived, that, in order to favour them, 
I had cono?aled many particulars, and often said the thing 
which was aot. 

“ He was the more confirmed in this opinion, because he 
observed, that as I agreed in every feature of my body with 
other Yahoos, except where it was to ray real disadvantage in 
point of strength, speed, and activity, the shortness of my 
claws and some other particulars where nature had no part : so 
from the representation I had given him of our lives, our man- 
ners, and our actions, he found as near a resemblance in the 
disposition of our minds.” He said, “ the Yahoos were 
known to hate one another, more than they did any different 
species of animals ; and the reason usually assigned was, the 
odiousness of their own shapes, which all could see in the rest, 
but not in themselves. He had therefore begun to think it 
not unwise in us to cover our bodies, and by that invention 
conceal many of our deformities from each other, which would 
' else be hardly supportable. But he now found he had been 
mistaken, and that the dissensions of those brutes in his 
country were owing to the same cause with ours, as I had 
described them. For if,” said he, “ you throw among five 
Yahoos as much food as would be sufficient for fifty, they will, 
instead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each 
single one impatient to have all to itself ; and therefore a 


388 


Gulliver’s travels. 

,-jervant s usually employed to stand by while they were 
feeding abroad, and those kept at home were tied at a distance 
from each other : that if a cow died of age or accident, before 
a Houyhnhnm could secure it for his own Yahoos , those in the 
neighbourhood would come in herds to seize it, and then 
would ensue such a battle as I had described, with terrible 
wounds made by their claws on both sides, although they sel- 
dom were able to kill one another, for want of such convenient 
instruments of death as we had invented. At other times the 
like battles have been fought between the Yahoos of several 
neighbourhoods, without any visible cause ; those of one dis- 
trict watching all opportunities to surprise the next, before 
they are prepared. But if they find their project has miscar- 
ried, they return home, and, for want of enemies, engage in 
what I call a civil war among themselves. 

“That in some fields of his country there are certain shin- 
ing stones of several colours, whereof the Yahoos are violently 
fond ; and when part of these stones is fixed in the earth, as 
it sometimes happens, they will dig with their claws for whole 
days to get them out, then carry them away, and hide them 
by heaps in their kennels ; but still looking round With 
great caution, for fear their comrades should find out their 
treasure. ” My master said, “ he could never discover 
the reason of this unnatural appetite, or how these stones 
could be of any use to a Yahoo ; but now he believed it 
might proceed from the same principle of avarice which I had 
ascribed to mankind. That he had once, by way of experi- 
ment, privately removed a heap of these stones from the place 
where one of his Yahoos had buried it ; whereupon the sordid 
animal, missing his treasure, by his loud lamenting brought 
the whole herd to the place, there miserably howled, then fell 
to biting and tearing the rest ; began to pine away, would 
neither eat, nor sleep, nor work, till he ordered a servant pri- 
vately to convey the stones into the same hole, and hide them 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOTJYITNHNM 8. ‘dtS 


as before ; which, when his Yahoo had found, he presently 
recovered his spirits and good humour, but took good care to 
remove them to a better hiding-place, and has everLsince been a 
very serviceable brute.’* 

My master farther assured me, which I also observed myself, 
“ that' in the fields where the shining stones abound, the fiercest 
and most frequent battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual 
inroads of the neighbouring Yahoos 

He said, “ it was common, when two Yahoos discovered such 
a stone in a field, and were contending which of them should 
be the proprietor, a third would take the advantage, and carry 
it away from them both which my master would needs con- 
tend to have some kind of resemblance with our suits at law ; 
where in I thought it for our credit not to undeceive him ; 
since the decision he mentioned was much more equitable 
'than many decrees among us : because the plaintiff and de- 
fendant there lost nothing beside the stone they contended 
for ; whereas our courts of equity would never have dismissed 
the cause, while either of them had anything left. 

My master, continuing his discourse, said, “ there was noth- 
ing that rendered the Yahoos more odious, than their undis- 
tinguishing appetite to devour every thing that came in their 
way, whether herbs, roots, berries, the corrupted flesh of ani- 
mals, or all mingled together : and it was peculiar in their 
temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by 
rapine or stealth, at a greater distance, than much better food 
provided for them at home. If their prey held out, they 
would eat till they were ready to burst ; after which nature 
had pointed out to them a certain root that gave them a gen- 
eral evacuation. 

“ There was also another kind of root, very juicy, but some- 
what rare and difficult to be found, which the Yahoos sought 
for with much eagerness, and would suck it with great de- 
light ; it produced in them the same effects that wine has 




390 


GULLIVERS TRAVELS. 


upon us. It would make them sometimes hug, and sometimes 
tear one another ; they would howl, and grin, and chatter, 
and reel, and tumble, and then fall asleep in the mud.” 

I did indeed observe that the Yahoos were the only animals 
m this country subject to any diseases ; which, however, were 
much fewer than horses have among us, and contracted not 
by any ill-treatment they meet with, but by the nastiness and 
greediness of that sordid brute. Neither has their language 
any more than a general appellation for these maladies, which 
is borrowed from the name of the beast, and called hnea 
■yahoo, or Yahoo's evil ; and the cure prescribed is a mixture 
of their own dung and urine, forcibly put down the Yahoo's 
throat. This I have since often known to have been taken 
with success, and do here freely recommend it u> my coun- 
trymen, for the public good, as an admirable specific against 
all diseases produced by repletion. 

“ As to learning, government, arts, manufactures, and the 
like,” my master confessed, “ he could find little or no resem- 
blance between the Yahoos of that country and those in ours. 
For he only meant to observe, what parity there was in our 
natures. He had heard, indeed, some curious Houyhnhnms 
observe, that in most herds there was a sort of ruling Yahoo, 
(as among us there is generally some leading .or principal 
stag in a park), who is always more deformed in body, and 
mischievous in disposition, than any of the rest. That this 
leader had usually a favourite, as like himself as he could 
get, whose employment was to lick his master’s feet and pos- 
teriors, and drive the female Yahoos to his kennel ;* for which 
he was now and then rewarded with a piece of ass’s flesh. 
This favourite is hated by the whole herd, and therefore, to 
protect himself, keeps always near the person of his leader. 
He usually continues in office till a worse can be found : but 
the very moment he is discarded, his successor, at the head 


* Flattery and pimping. — H. 


A VOYAGE TO THE H O U Y H N H N M S . 3‘J 1 

of all the Yahoos in that district, young and ■ ' J male and 
female, come in a body,* and discharged their iwcrements 
upon him from head to foot. But how far th rnigi t ap- 
plicable to our courts and favourites, and ministers of state, 
my master said I could best determine.” 

I durst make no return to this malicious insinuation, which 
debased human understanding below the sagacity of a com- 
mon hound, who has judgment enough to distinguish and fol- 
low the cry of the ablest dog in the pack, without being ever 
mistaken. 

My master told me “ there were some qualities remarkable 
in the Yahoos , which he had not observed me to mention, or 
at least very slightly, in the accounts I had given of human 
kind.” He said, “ those animals, like other brutes, had their 
females in common ; but in this they differed, that the she 
Yahoo would admit the males while she was pregnant; and 
that the hes would quarrel and fight with the females, as 
fiercely as with each other ; both which practices were such 
degrees of infamous brutality, as no other sensitive creature 
ever arrived at. 

“ Another thing he wondered at in the Yahoos, was their 
strange disposition to nastiness and dirt ; whereas there ap- 
pears to be a natural love of cleanliness in all other animals.” 
As to the two former accusations, I was glad to let them pass 
without any reply, because I had not a word to offer upon 
them in defence of my speciesf'which otherwise I certainly had 
done from my own inclinations. But I could have easily vin- 
dicated humankind from the imputation of singularity upon 
the last article, if there had been any swine in the country 
(as unluckily for me there were not), which, although it may 
be a sweeter quadruped than a Yahoo, cannot, I humbly con 

* This sentence 's altogether ungrammatical : “ his successor,” is the only nomi- 
native to the plural verb “ come it may be thus amended — “ but the very mo- 
ment he is discarded, all the Yahoos in that district, young and old., male and 
female, with his successor at their head, come in a body,” Ac.— S. 


GUL LITER’S TRAVELS. 

more cleanliness ; and so his hon- 
our himself must, have owned, if he had seen their filthy way of 
feeding, and their custom of wallowing and sleeping in 
mud. 

My master likewise mentioned another quality, which his 
9 servants had discovered in several Yahoos , and to him was 
wholly unaccountable. He said, “ a fancy would sometimes 
take a Yahoo to retire into a corner, to lie down, and howl, 
and moan, and spurn away all that came near him, though 
he were young and fat, wanted neither food nor water, nor 
did the servant imagine what might possibly ail him. And 
the only remedy they found was, to set him to hard work, 
after which he would infallibly come to himself.” To this I 
was silent, out of partiality to my kind ; yet here I could 
plainly discover the true seeds of spleen, which only seizes on 
the lazy, the luxurious, and the rich ; who,* if they were 
forced to undergo the same regimen, I would undertake for 
the cure. 

His honour had farther observed, “ that a female Yahoo 
would often stand behind a bank or a bush, to gaze on the 
young males passing by, and then appear, and hide, using 
many antic grimaces, at which time it was observed that she 
had a most offensive smell ; and when any of the males ad- 
vanced, would slowly retire, looking often back, and with a 
counterfeit show of fear, run off into some^ convenient place, 
where she knew the male would follow her. 

“ At other times, if a female stranger came among them, 
three or four of her own sex would get about her, and stare, 
and chatter, and grin, and smell her all over ; and then turn 
off with gestures, that seemed to express contempt and disdain.” 

Perhaps my master might refine a little in these specula- 
tions, which he had drawn from what he observed himself, 


♦Here the word “who,” is a nominative without reference to any verb after- 
ward. — S. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNM8. 39'J 


or had been told him by others ; however, I could not reflect 
without some amazement, and much sorrow, that the rudi- 
ments of lewdness, coquetry, censure, and scandal, should 
have place by instinct in womankind 

I expected every moment that my master would accuse 
the Yahoos of those unnatural appetites in both sexes, so com- 
mon among us. But Nature, it seems, has lot been so ex- 
pert a schoolmistress ; and. these politer pleasui as are entirely 
the productions of Art and Reason on our sid< of the globe. 


* \ 


* 


17 * 


CHAPTER ViiL 


The Author relates several particulars of the Yahoos— The great virtues of the 
Houyhnhnms — The education and exercise of their youth — Their general assem- 
bly. 

As I ought to have understood human nature much better 
than I supposed it possible for my master to do, so it was 
easy to apply the character he gave of the Yahoos to myself 
and my countrymen ; and I believed I could yet make farther 
discoveries, from my own observation. I therefore often beg- 
ged his honour to let me go among the herds of Yahoos in 
the neighbourhood ; to which he always very graciously con- 
sented, being perfectly convinced that the hatred I bore these 
brutes 'would never sutler me to be corrupted by them ; and 
his honour ordered one of his servants, a strong sorrel nag, 
very honest and good-natured, to be my guard; without 
whose protection I durst not undertake such adventures. For 
I have already told the reader how much I was pestered by 
these odious animals, upon my first arrival ; and I afterward 
failed very narrowly three or four times of falling into their 
clutches, when I happened to stray at any distance without my 
hanger. And I have reason to believe they had some imagi- 
nation that I was of their own species, which I often assisted 
myself by stripping up my sleeves, and showing my naked 
arms and breasts in their sight, when my protector was with 
me. At which times they would approach as near as they 
durst, and imitate my actions after the manner of monkeys, 


A. VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNM8, 305 


but ever with great signs of hatred ; as a tame jackdaw . ifch 
cap and stockings is always persecuted by the wild ones, 
when he happens to be got among them. 

They are prodigiously nimble from their infancy. How- 
ever, I once caught a young male of three years old, and en- 
deavoured, by all marks of tenderness, to make it quiet ; but 
the little imp fell a squalling, and scratching, and biting with 
6uoh violence, that I was forced to let it go ; and it was high 
time, for a whole troop of old ones came about us at the 
noise, but finding the cub was safe (for away it ran), and my 
sorrel nag being by, they durst not venture near us. I ob- 
served the young animal’s flesh to smell very rank, and the 
stink was somewhat between a weasel and a fox, but much 
more disagreeable. I forgot another circumstance (and per- 
haps I might have the reader’s pardon if it were wholly omit- 
ted), that while I held the odious vermin in my hands, it 
voided its filthy excrements, of a yellow liquid substance, all 
over my clothes ; but by good fortune there was a small 
brook hard by, where I washed myself as clean as I could ; 
although I durst not come into my master’s presence until I 
were sufficiently aired. 

By what I could discover, the Yahoos appear to be the 
most unteachable of all animals : their capacities never reach- 
ing higher than to draw or carry burdens. Yet I am of opin- 
ion, this defect arises chiefly from a perverse, restift’ disposition. 
For thejf are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful. 
They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly spirit, and by 
consequence insolent, abject, and cruel. It is observed, that 
the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous and mischie- 
vous than the rest, whom yet they much exceed in strength 
and activity. 

The Houyhnhnms keep the Yahoos for present use in huts 
not far from the house ; but the rest are sent abroad to cer- 
tain fields, where they dig up roots, eat several kinds of herbs, 


396 


GULLIVERS TRAVELS. 


and search about for carrion, or sometimes catch weasels 
and . muhs (a sort of wild rat), which they greedily devour. 
Nature has taught them to dig deep holes with their nails on 
the side of a rising ground, wherein they lie by themselves ; 
only the kennels of the females are larger, sufficient to hold 
two or three cubs. 

They swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to 
continue long under water, where they often take fish, which 
the females carry home to their young. And upon this occa- 
sion, I hope the reader will pardon ray relating an odd adven- 
ture. 

Being one day abroad with my protector, the sorrel nag, 
and the weather exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe 
in a river that was near. He consented, and I immediately 
stripped myself stark naked, and went down softly into the 
stream. It happened that a young female Yahoo, standing 
behind a bank, saw the whole proceeding, and inflamed by 
desire, as the nag and I conjectured, came running with all 
speed, and leaped into the water, within five yards of the 
place where I bathed. I was never in my life so terribly 
frightened. The nag was grazing at some distance, not sus- 
pecting any harm. She embraced me after a most fulsome 
manner. I roared as loud as I could, and the nag came gal 
loping towards me, whereupon she quitted her grasp, with the 
utmost reluctancy, and leaped upon the opposite bank, whore 
she stood gazing and howling all the time I was puttiug on 
my clothes. 

This was a matter of diversion to my master and his family, 
as well as of mortification to myself. For now I could no 
longer deny that I was a real Yahoo in every limb and fea- 
ture, since the females had a natural propensity to me, as one 
of their own species ; neither was the hair of this brute of a 
red colour (which might have been some excuse for an appe- 
tite a little irregular), but black as a sloe, and her countenance 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 397 


did not make an appearance altogether so hideous as the rest 
of her kind ; for I think she could not be above eleven years 
old. 

Having lived three years in this country, the reader, I sup- 
pose, will expect that I should, like other travellers, give him 
some account of the manners and customs of its inhabitants , 
which it was indeed my principal study to learn. 

As these noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by nature with 
a general disposition to all virtues, and have no conceptions 
or ideas of what is evil in a rational creature ;,.sb their grand 
maxim is, to cultivate reason, and to be wholly governed by 
it. Neither is reason among them a point problematical, as 
with us, where men can argue with plausibility on both sides 
of the question ; but strikes you with immediate conviction ; 
as it must needs do, where it is not mingled, obscured, or dis- 
coloured, by passion and interest. I remember it was with 
extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand 
the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be 
disputable ; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only 
where we are certain ; and beyond our knowledge we cannot 
do either. So that controversies, wranglings, disputes, and 
positiveness, in false or dubious propositions, are evils unknown 
among the Houyhnhnms. In the like manner, when I used 
to explain to him our several systems of natural philosophy, 
he would laugh “ that a creature pretending to reason, should 
value itself upon the knowledge of other people’s conjectures 
and in things where that knowledge, if it were certain, could 
be of no use.” Wherein he agreed entirely with the senti- 
ments of Socrates as Plato delivers them ; which I mention 
as the highest honour I can do that prince of philosophers. 
I have often since reflected, what destruction such doctrines 
would make in the libraries of Europe ; and how many paths 
of fame would be then shut up in the learned world. 

Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues 


among the Houyhnhnms , and these are not confined to parti ci* 
iar objects, but universal to the whole race. For a stranger from 

/ the remotest part is equally treated with the nearest neigh- 
bour ; and wherever, he goes, looks upon himself as at home. 
They preserve decency and civility in the highest degrees, but 
are altogether ignorant of ceremony. They have no fondness 
for their colts or foals, but the care they take in educating 
them proceeds entirely from the dictates of reason. And I 
observed my master to shew the same affection to his neigh- 
bour’s issue, that he had for his own. They will have it that 
nature teaches them to love the whole species, and it is rea- 
son only that makes a distinction of persons, where there is a 
superior degree of virtue. 

When the matron Houyhnhnms have produced one of each 
sex, they no longer accompany with their consorts, except 
they lose one of their issue by some casualty, w'hich very sel- 
dom happens ; but in such a case they meet again ; or when 
the like accident befalls a person whose wife is past bearing, 
some other couple bestow on him one of their own colts, and 
then go together again until the mother is pregnant. This 
caution is necessary, to prevent the country from being over- 
^'“'burdened with numbers. But the race of inferior Houyhnhnms 
bred up to be servants, is not so strictly limited upon this 
article : these are allowed to produce three of each sex, to 
be domestics in the noble families. 

In their marriages, they are exactly careful to choose such 
colours as will not make any disagreeable mixture in the 
breed. Strength is chiefly valued in the male, and comeli- 
ness in the female ; not upon the account of love, but to pre- 
serve the race from degenerating ; for where a female hap- 
pens to excel in strength, a consort is chosen, with regard to 
comeliness. 

Courtship, love, presents, jointures, settlements, have no 
| lace in their thoughts ; or terms whereby to express them 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 399 


in their language. The young couple meet, and are joined, 


merely because it is the determination of their parents and 


friends : it is what they see done every day, and they look 
upon it as one of the necessary actions of a reasonable being. 
But the violation of marriage, or any other unchastity, was 
never heard of, and the married pair pass their lives with the 
same friendship and mutual benevolence, that they bear to 


all others of the same species who come in their 'th- 



out jealousy, fondness, quarrelling, or discontent. — ^ 

In educating the youth of both sexes, their method is ad- 
mirable, and highly deserves our imitation. These are not 
suffered to taste a grain of oats, except upon certain days, till 
eighteen years old ; nor milk, but very rarely ; and in sum- 
mer they graze two hours in the morning, and as many in 
the evening, which their parents likewise observe ; hut the 
servants are not allowed above half that time, and a great part 
of their grass is brought home, which they eat at the most 
convenient hours, when they can be best spared from work. 

Temperance, industry, exercise, and cleanliness, are the les- 
sons equally enjoined to the young ones of both sexes ; and 
my master thought it monstrous in us, to give the females a 
different kind of education from the males, except in some 
articles of domestic management ; whereby, as he truly ob- 
served, one half of our natives were good for nothing but 
bringing children into the world : and to trust the care of 
our children to such useless animals, he said, was yet a greater 
instance of brutality. 

But the Houyhnhnms train up their youth to strength, speed, 
and hardiness by exercising them in running races up and down 
steep hills, and over hard stony grounds ; and when they are 
all in a sweat, they are ordered to leap over head and ears 
into a pond or river. Four times a year the youth of a cer- 
tain district meet to shew their pi Dficiency in running and 
leaping, and other feats of strength and agility ; where the 


4<>0 gulliyer’s .travels. 

victor is rewarded with a song in his or her praise. On this 
festival, the servants drive a herd of Yahoos into the field, 
laden with hay, and oats, and milk, for a repast to the 
Houyhnhnms , after which, these brutes are immediately 
driven back again, for fear of being noisome to the assem- 
bly. 

Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox, there is a repre- 
sentative council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain 
about twenty miles from our house, and continues about five 
or six days. Here they inquire into the state and condition 
of the several districts ; whether they abound or be deficient 
in hay, or oats, or cows, or Yahoos : and wherever there is 
any want (which is but seldom) it is immediately supplied by 
unanimous consent and contribution. Here likewise the reg- 
ulation of children is settled : as for instance, if a Houyhnhnm 
has two males, he changes one of them with another that has 
two females : and when a child has been lost by any casualty 
where the mother is past breeding, it is determined what 
family in the district shall breed another to supply the 
loss. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. D1 


S 


CHAPTER IX. 


A grand debate at the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, and how it was deter- 
mined — The learning of the Houyhnhnms — Their buildings — Their manner, of 
burials — The defectiveness of their language. 


One of these grand assemblies was held in my time, about 
three months before my departure, whither my master went 
as the representative of our district. In this council was 
resumed their old debate, and indeed the only debate that 
ever happened in their country ; whereof my master, after 
his return, gave me a very particular account. 

The question to be debated was, “ Whether the Yahoos 
should be exterminated from the face of the earth ?” One 
of the members for the affirmative offered several arguments 
of great strength and weight, alleging, “ that as the Yahoos 
were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animal which 
nature ever produced, so they were the most restiff and indo- 
cible, mischievous and malicious ; they would privately suck 
the teats of the Houyhnhnms ’ cows, kill and devour their cats, 
trample down their oats and grass, if they were not continu- 
ally watched, and commit a thousand other extravagancies.” 
He took notice of a general tradition “ that Yahoos had not 
been always in their country ; but that, many ages ago, two 
of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain ; whether 
produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and 
slime, or from the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known : 
that these Yahoos engendered, and their brood, in a short 


£02 


GULLIVERS TRAVELS. 


time, grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the whole 
nation ; that the Houyhnhnms , to get rid of this evil, made a 
general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd ; and 
destroying the elder, every Houyhnhnm kept two young 
ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of tame- 
ness, as an animal, so savage by nature, can be capable of 
acquiring ; using them for draught and carriage : that there 
seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those 
creatures could not be ylnhniamsky (or aborigines of the land), 
because of the violent hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as 
all other animals bore, them, which, although their evil dispo- 
sition sufficiently deserved, could never have arrived at so 
high a degree, if they had been aborigines ; or else they would 
have been long since rooted out : that the inhabitants, taking 
a fancy to use the service of the Yahoos , had very imprudently 
neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely 
animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any 
offensive smell ; strong enough for labour, although they yield 
to the other in agility of body ; and if their braying be no 
agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings 
of the Yahoos 

Several others declared their sentiments to the same pur- 
pose, when my master proposed an expedient to the assembly, 
whereof he had indeed borrowed the hint from me. “ He 
approved of the tradition mentioned by the honourable mem- 
ber who spoke before, and affirmed that the two Yahoos said 
to be first seen among them, had been driven thither over the 
sea : that coming to land, and being forsakeA by their com- 
panions, they retired to the mountains, and degenerating by 
degrees, became in process of time much more savage than 
those of their own species in the country whence these two 
originals came. The reason of this assertion was, that he had 
now in his possession a certain wonderful Yahoo (meaning 
myself), which most of them had heard of, and many of them 


A VOYAGE TO THE HO QTHNHNM8, 403 


seen. He then related to them how he first found me ; that 
my body was all covered with an artificial composure of tho 
skins and hairs of other animals : that I spoke in a language 
of my own, and had thoroughly learned theirs ; that I had 
related to him the accidents which brought me thither ; that 
when he saw me without any covering, I was an exact Yahoo 
in every part, only of a whiter colour, less hairy, and with 
shorter claws. He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade 
him, that in my own and other countries, thef Yahoos acted 
as the governing rational animal, and held the Houyhnhnms 
in servitude ; that he observed in me all the qualities of a 
Yahoo , only a little more civilized by some tincture of reason, 
which, however, was in a degree as far inferior to the Hou- 
yhnhnm race, as the Yahoos of their country were to me ; 
that among other things, I mentioned a custom we had of 
castrating Houyhnhnms when they were young, in order to 
render them tame ; that the operation was easy and safe ; 
that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as indus- 
try was taught by the ant, and building by the swallow (for 
so I translate the word lyhannh , although it be a much larger 
fowl) ; that this invention might be practised upon the 
younger Yahoos here, which besides rendering them tractable 
and fitter for use, would in an age put an end to the whole 
species, without destroying life ; that in the mean time the 
Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the breed of 
asses, which as they are in all respects more valuable brutes, 
so they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five years 
old, which the others are not till twelve.” 

This was all my master thought fit to tell me at that time, 
of what passed in the grand council. But he was pleased to 
conceal one particular, which related personally to myself, 
whereof I soon felt the unhappy effect, as the reader will 
know in its proper place, and whence I date all the succeed 
ing misfortunes of my life. 


404 


Gulliver’s travels. 


The Houyhnknms have no letters, and consequently theii 
knowledge is all traditional. But there happening few events 
of any moment among a people so well united, naturally dis- 
posed to every virtue, wholly governed by reason, and cut off 
from all commerce with other nations, the historical part is 
eisilv preserved without burdening their memories. I have 
already observed that they are subject to no diseases, and 
therefore can have no need of physicians. However, they 
have excellent medicines, composed of herbs to cure acciden- 
tal bcyises and cuts in the pastern or frog of the foot by sharp 
stones, as well as other maims and hurts in the several parts 
of the body. 

They calculate the year by the revolutions of the sun and 
moon, but use no subdivisions into weeks. They are well 
enough acquainted with the motions of these two luminaries 
and understand the nature of eclipses ; and this is the utmost 
progress of their astronomy. 

In poetry, they must be allowed to excel all other mortals ; 
w herein the justness of their similes, and the minuteness as 
well as the exactness of their descriptions, are indeed inimit- 
able. Their verses abound very much in both of these, and 
usually contain either some exalted notions of friendship and 
benevolence, or the praises of those who were victors in races 
and other bodily exercises. Their buildings, although very 
rude and simple, are not inconvenient, but well contrived to 
defend them from all injuries of cold and heat. They have a 
kind of tree, which at forty years old loosens in the root, and 
falls with the first storm ; it grows very straight, and being 
pointed like stakes, with a sharp stone (for the Houyhnhnms 
know not the use of iron), they stick them erect in the ground, 
about ten inches asunder, and then weave in oat straw, or 
sometimes wattles between them. The roof is made after the 
same manner, and so are the doors. 

The Houyhnhnms use the hollow part, between the pastern 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNM8. 405 


and the hoof of the fore-foot, as we do our hands, and this 
with greater dexterity than I could at first imagine. I have 
seen a white mare of our family thread a needle (which I lent 
her on purpose) with that joint. They milk their cows, reap 
their oats, and do all the work which requires hands in the 
same manner. They have a kind of hard flints, which by 
grinding against other stones, they form into instruments, 
that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. With 
tools made of these flints, they likewise cut their hay, and 
reap their oats, which there grow naturally in several fields ; 
the Yahoos draw home the sheaves in carriages, and the ser- 
vants tread them in certain covered huts to get out the grain, 
which was kept in stores. They make a rude kind of earthen 
and wooden vessels, and bake the former in the sun. 

If they can avoid casualties, they die only of old age, and 
are buried in the obscurest places that c*o be found, their 
friends and relations expressing neither joy nor grief at their 
departure ; nor does the dying persoq discover the least re- 
gret that he is leaving the world, any more than if he were 
upon returning home from a visit to one of his neighbours. I 
remember my master having once made an appointment with 
a friend of his family to come to his house, upon some affair 
of importance : on the fixed day, the mistress and her two 
children came very late ; she made two excuses, first for her 
husband, who, as she said, happened that very morning to 
thnuwnh. The word is strongly expressive in their language, 
but not easily rendered into English ; it signifies, “ to retire 
to his first mother.” Her excuse for not coming sooner, was, 
that her husband dying late in the morning, she was a good 
while consulting her servants about a convenient place where 
his body should be laid ; and I observed, she behaved herself 
at our house as cheerfully as the rest : she died about three 
months after. 

They live generally to seventy or seventy-five years, y erv 


4:06 


gulliyer’s travels. 


seldom to fourscore : some weeks before their death, they 
feel a gradual decay, but without pain. During this time 
they are much visited by their friends, because they cannot go 
abroad with their usual ease and satisfaction. However, 
about ten days before their death, which they seldom fail in 
computing, they return the visits that have been made them 
by those who are nearest in the neighbourhood, being carried 
in a convenient sledge drawn by Yahoos ; which vehicle they 
use, not only upon this occasion, but when they grow old, 
upon long journeys, or when they are lamed by any accident ; 
and therefore when the dying Houyhnhnms return those visits, 
they take a solemn leave of their friends, as if they were 
going to some remote part of the country, where they design- 
ed to pass the rest of their lives. 

I know not whether it may be worth observing, that the 
Houyhnhnms have no word in their language to express any 
thing that is evil, except whafcthey borrow from the deformi- 
ties or ill qualities of the Yahoos. Thus they denote the 
folly of a servant, an omission of a child, a stone that cuts 
their feet, a continuance of foul or unseasonable weather, and 
the like, by adding to each the epithet of Yahoo. For in- 
stance hhnm Yahoo; whnaholm Yahoo , ynlhmndwiklma 
Yahoo , and an ill-contrived house ynholmhnmrohlnw Yahoo. 

I could, with great pleasure, enlarge farther upon the man- 
ners and virtues of this excellent people ; but intending in a 
short time to publish a volume by itself, expressly upon that 
subject, I refer the reader thither ; and in the mean tiue, 
proceed to relate my own sad catastrophe. 


▲ VOYAGE TO THE HoCYHNUNM" 


407 



■ 

CHAPTER. X. 


The Author’s economy, and happy life, among the Hotyhnhnms — His great improve- 
ment in virtue by conversing with them — Their conversations — The Author has 
notice given him by his master, that he must depart from the country — He falls 
into a swoon for grief : but submits — He contrives and finishes a canoe by the 
help of a fellow-servant, and puts to sea at a venture. 

I had settled my little economy to my own heart’s content. 
My master had ordered a room to be made for me, after their 
manner, about six yards from the house: the sides and floors 
of which I plastered with clay, and covered with rush mats of 
my own contriving ; I had beaten hemp, which there grows 
wild, and made of it a sort of ticking ; this I filled with the 
feathers of several birds I had taken with springes made of 
Yahoos' hairs, and* were excellent food. I had worked two 
chairs with my knife, the sorrel nag helping me in the grosser 
and more laborious part. When my clothes were worn to 
rags, I made myself others with the skins of rabbits, and of a 
certain beautiful animal, about the same size, called nnuhnoh, 
the skin of which is covered with a fine down. Of these I 
also made very tolerable stockings. I soled my shoes with 
wood, which I cut from a tree, and fitted to the upper leather ; 
and when this was worn out, I supplied it with the skins ot 
Yahoos dried in the sun. I often got honey out of hollow 

* It should be — and “which” were excellent food. This sentence is faulty in 
other respects; but here, as well as in many other passages of these Voyages, the 
author has intentionally made use ®f inaccurate expressions, and studied negli- 
gence, in order to make the style more like that of a seafaring man, on which account 
they have been passed over in silence, where such intention was ovious — .S. 


08 a : u l i v e b ' 8 travels. 

rees, wh I mingled w water, or ate with my bread, 

man could more verify the truth of these two maxims, 

‘That nature is very easily satisfied;” and, “ That necessity is 
the mother of invention. ” I enjoyed perfect health of body, 
and tranquillity of mind ; I did not feel the treachery or in- 
constancy of a friend, nor the injuries of a secret or open 
enemy. I had no occasion of bribing, flattering, or pimping* 
to procure the favour of any great man, or of his minion. I 
wanted no fence against fraud or oppression : here was neither 
physician to destroy my body, nor lawyer to ruin my fortune • 
no informer to watch my words and actions, or forge accusa- 
tions against me for hire : here were no gibers, censurers, back- 
biters, pickpockets, highwaymen, housebreakers, attorneys, 
bawds, buffoons, gamesters, politicians, wits, splenetics, tedious 
talkers, controvertists, ravishers, murderers, robbers, virtuosos ; 
no leaders, or followers, of party and faction ; no encour- 
agers to vice, by seducement or examples ; no dungeon, axes, 
gibbets, whipping-posts, or pillories ; no cheating shop-keepers 
or mechanics ; no pride, vanity, or affectation ; no fops, bul 
lies, drunkards, strolling whores, or poxes ; no ranting, lewd, 
expensive wives ; no stupid, proud pedants ; no importunate, 
overbearing, quarrelsome, noisy, roaring, empty, conceited, 
swearing companions ; no scoundrels raised from the dust upon 
the merit of their vices, or nobility thrown into it on account 
of their virtues ; no lords, fiddlers, judges, or dancing-mas- 
ters. 

I had the favour of being admitted to several Houyhnhnms , 
who came to visit or dine with my master ; where his honour 
graciously suffered me to wait in the room, and listen to their 
discourse. Both he and his company would often descend to 
ask me questions, and receive my answers. I had also some- 
times the honour of attending my master in his visits to others. 
I never presumed to speak, except in answer to a question ; 
and then I did it with inward regret, because it was a loss 


A V O 1 • T-; T TIM U Y H NHNil 8 . ' - 

of so much ti in for impro but I was 

delighted with the station of an humble auditor in < n- 

versations, where nothing passed but what was useful’, expressed 
in the fewest and most significant words: where, as I have 
already said, the greatest decency was observed, without the 
least degree of ceremony; where no person spoke without 
being pleased himself, and pleasing his companions; where 
there was no interruption, tediousness, heat, or difference of 
sentiments. They have a notion, that when people are met 
together, a short silence does much improve conversation ; this 
[ found to be true ; for, during those little intermissions of talk, 
new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much 
enlivened the discourse. Their subjects are generally on 
friendship and benevolence, on order and economy ; sometimes 
upon the visible operations of nature, or ancient traditions ; 
upon the bounds and limits of virtue ; upon the unerring rules 
of reason, or upon some determination to be taken at the next 
great assembly : and often upon the various excellencies of 
poetry. I may add, without vanity, that my presence often 
gave them sufficient matter for discourse, because it afforded 
my master an occasion of letting his friends into the history 
of me and my country, upon which they were all pleased to 
descant, in a manner not very advantageous to human kind : 
and for that reason I shall not repeat what they said : only I 
may be allowed to observe, that his honour, to my great 
admiration, appeared to understand the nature of Yahoos much 
better than myself. He went through all our vices and follies, 
and discovered many, which I had never mentioned to him, 
by only supposing what qualities a Yahoo of their country, 
with a small proportion of reason, might be capable of exert- 
ing; and concluded, with too much probability, “how vile as 
well as miserable such a creature must be.” 

I freely confess, that all the little knowledge I have of any 
value, was acquired by the lectures I received from my master, 

18 ' 


^o*li'earing the discourses f him and his friends ; to which 
i should be prouder ?•' ; Kt ■*. i to dictate to the greatest and 
wisest assembly in iiurope. 1 admired the strength, comeli- 
ness, and speed of the inhabitants ; and such a constellation of 
virtues, in such amiable persons, produced in me the highest 
veneration. At first, indeed, I did not feel that natural awe, 
which the Yahoos and all other animals bear towards them ; 
but it grew upon me by degrees, much sooner than I imagined, 
and was mingled with a respectful love and gratitude, that 
they would condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my 
species. 

When I thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen, 
or the human race in general, I considered them, as they really 
were, Yahoos in shape and disposition, perhaps a little more 
civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech ; but making no 
other use of reason, than to improve and multiply those vices 
whereof their brethern in this country had only the share that 
nature allotted them. When I happened to behold the reflec- 
tion of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my face 
in horror and detestation of myself; and could better endure 
the sight of a common Yahoo , than of my own person. By 
conversing with the Houyhnhnms , and looking upon them 
with delight, I fell to imitate their gait and gesture, which is 
now grown into a habit; and my friends often tell me, in a 
blunt way, “ that I trot like a horse ;” which, however, I take 
for a great compliment : neither shall I disown, that in speak- 
ing I am apt to fall into the voice and manners of the Houy- 
hnhnms, and hear myself ridiculed on that account, without 
the least mortification. 

In the midst of all the happiness, and when I lojked upon 
myself to be fully settled for life, my master sent for me one 
morning a little earlier than his usual hour. I observed by 
his countenance that he was in some perplexity, and at a loss 
how to begin what he had to speak. After a short silence. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHN: 


Jig told me “ he did not know how I would take \ 

going to say: that in the last general assembly, wuen 1/ 
affair of the Yahoos was entered upon, the representatives had 
taken offence at his keeping a Yahoo (meaning myself) in his 
family, more like a Houyhnhnm than a brute animal ; that he 
was known frequently to converse with me, as if he could 
receive some advantage or pleasure in my company ; that such 
a practice was not agreeable to reason or nature, or a thing 
ever heard of before among them ; the assembly did therefore 
exhort him either to employ me like the rest of my species, or 
command me to swim back to the place whence I came : that 
the first of these expedients was utterly rejected by all the 
Houyhnhnms who had ever seen me at his house or their own 
for they alleged, that because I had some rudiments of reason, 
added to the natural gravity of those animals, it was to bo 
feared I might be able to seduce them into the woody and 
mountainous parts of the country, and bring them in troops 
by night to destroy the Houyhnhnms ’ cattle, as being naturally 
of the ravenous kind, and averse from labour.” 

My master added, “ that he was daily pressed by the Houy- 
hnhnms of the neighbourhood, to have the assembly’s exhor- 
tation executed, which he could not put off much longer. He 
doubted it would be impossible for me to swim to another 
country; and therefore wished I would contrive some sort of 
vehicle resembling those I had described to him, that might 
carry me on the sea ; in which work I should have the assis- 
tance of his own servants, as well as those of his neighbours.” 
He concluded, “ that for his own part, he could have been 
content to keep me in his service as long as I lived ; because 
he found I had cured myself of some bad habits and disposi- 
tions, by endeavouring, as far as my inferior nature was cap- 
able, to imitate the Houyhnhnms .” 

I should here observe to the reader, that a decree of the 
general assembly in this country, is expressed by the word 


U2 


gui.liykb’s TRAY X L s . 


U'-V 

ioayn, which signifies an exhortation, as near as I can ren 
der : for they have no conception how a rational creature can 
be compelled, but only advised, or exhorted ; because no person 
can disobey reason, without giving up his claim to be a 
rational creature. 

I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at . my mas- 
ter’s discourse ; and being unable to support the agonies I was 
under, I fell into a swoon at his feet. When I came to myself' 
he told me, “ that he concluded I had been dead for these 
people are subject to no such imbecilities of nature. 1 
answered, in a faint voice, “that death would have been too 
great a happiness : that although I could not blame the assem- 
bly’s exhortation, or the urgency of his friends ; yet, in my 
weak and corrupt judgment, I thought it might consist with 
reason to have been less rigorous : that I could not swim a 
league, and probably the nearest land to theirs might be dis- 
tant above a hundred : that many materials, necessary for 
making a small vessel .to carry me oft’ were wholly wanting 
in this country ; which, however, I would attempt, in obedience 
and gratitude to his honour, although I concluded the thing 
to be impossible, and therefore looked on myself as already 
devoted to destruction : that the certain prospect of an unna- 
tural death was the least of my evils ; for, supposing I should 
escape with life by some strange adventure, how could I think 
with temper of passing my days among Yahoos , and relaps- 
ing into my old corruptions, for want of examples to lead and 
k«>ep me within the paths of virtue ? that I knew too well upon 
what solid reasons all the determinations of the wise Houy - 
hnhnms were founded, not to be shaken by arguments of mine, 
a miserable Yahoo ; and therefore, after presenting him with 
my humble thanks for the offer of his servant’s assistance in 
making a vessel, and desiring reasonable time for so difficult 
a .fork, I told him I would endeavour to preserve a wretched 
t ug ; and if ever I returned to England, was not without 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYIINHNM 8 413 


hopes of being useful to ray own species, by celebrati o 
praises of the renowned Houyhnhnms , and proposin 
virtues to the imitation of mankind.” 

My master, in a few words, made me a very gracious reply ; 
allowed me the space of two months to finish my boat : and 
ordered the sorrel nag, myfell ow-servant (for so at this dis- 
tance I may presume to call him), to follow my instruction ; 
because I told my master, “ that his help would be sufficient, 
and I knew he had a tenderness for me.” 

In his company, ray first business was to go to that part 
of the coast where my rebellious crew had ordered me to be 
set on shore. I got upon a height, and looking on every side 
into the sea, fancied I saw a small island towards the north- 
east : I took out my pocket glass, and could then clearly dis“ 
tinguish it about five leagues off, as I computed : but it appeared 
to the sorrel nag to be only a blue cloud : for as he had no 
conception of any country beside his own, so he could not be 
as expert in distinguishing remote objects at sea, as we who 
so much converse* in that element. 

After I had discovered this island, I considered no farther ; 
but resolved it should, if possible, be the first place of my 
banishment, leaving the consequence to fortune. 

I returned home, and consulting with the sorrel nag, we 
went into a copse at some distance, where I with my knife, 
and he with a sharp flint, fastened very artificially after their 
manner to a wooden handle cut down several oak wattles, 
about the thickness of a walking-staff, and some larger pieces. 
But I shall not trouble the reader with a particular description 
of my own mechanics ; let it suffice to say, that in six weeks’ 
time, with the help of the sorrel nag, who performed the parts 
that required most labour, I finished a sort of Indian canoe 


• Thl3 is an uncommon uss of the word “ converse instead of the verb, the 
adjective is always employed in this sense; as t‘ius — “as we who are so conversar.t 
In that element.” — S. 


u 


GULLIVER S TRAVELS. 


ut much larger, covering it with the skins of Yahoos , wel. 
stitched together with hempen threads of my own making. 
My sail was likewise composed of the skins of the same 
animal ; but I made use of the youngest I could get, the older 
being too tough and thick : and I likewise provided myself 
with four paddles. I laid in a stock of boiled flesh, of rabbits 
and fowls ; and took with me two vessels, one filled with milk 
and the other with water. 

I tried my canoe in a large pond, near my master’s house, 
and then corrected in it what was amiss; stopping all the 
chinks with Yahoos ’ tallow, till I found it staunch, and able 
to bear me and my freight ; and, when it was as complete as 
I could possibly make it, I had it drawn on a carriage very 
gently by the Yahoos to the sea-side, under the conduct of 
the sorrel nag and another servant. 

When all was ready, and the day came for my departure, I 
took leave of my master and lady and the whole family, my 
eyes flowing with tears, and my heart quite sunk with grief 
But his honour, out of curiosity, and perhaps (if I may speak 
it without vanity) partly out of kindness, was determined to 
see me in my canoe ; and got several of his neighbouring 
friends to accompany him. I was forced to wait above an 
hour for the tide, and then observing the wind very fortunate- 
ly bearing towards the island to which I intended to steer my 
course, I took a second leave of my master : but as I was going 
to prostrate myself to kiss his hoof, he did me the honour to 
raise it gently to my mouth. I am not ignorant how much 
I have been censured for mentioning this last particular. 
Detractors are pleased to think it improbable, that so illustrious 
a person should descend to give so great a mark of distinction 
to a creature so inferior as I. Neither have* I forgotten how 
apt some travellers are to boast of extraordinary favours they 
have received But, if these censurers were better acquainted 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOt YHNHNMS. 4 1 i> 


with the noble and courteous disposition of the Houyhnhnms , 
they would soon change their opinion. 

I paid my respects to the rest of the Houyhnhnms in his 
honour’s company ; then getting into my canoe, I pushed oft 
from shore. 

! 


Vi 6 


GULLIVER'S TRHEIB, 


CHAPTER XT. 


*iit Author’s dangero is voyage — He arrives at New Holland, hoping to settle there 
— Is wounded with an arrow by one of the natives — Is seized and carried by force 
Into a Portuguese ship — The great civilities of the captain — The Author arrives 
at England. 


1 began this desperate voyage on February 15, 1714-15, at 
nine o’clock in the morning. The wind was very favourable ; 
however, I made use at first only of my paddles : but consid- 
ering I should soon be weary, and that the wind might chop 
about, I ventured to set up my little sail ; and thus, with the 
help of the' tide, I went at the rate of a league and a half an 
hour, as near as I could guess. My master and his friends 
continued on the shore till I was almost out of sight; and I 
often heard the sorrel nag (who always loved me) crying out, 
“ Hnuy ilia nyha majah Yahoo “ take care of thyself, gen- 
tle Yahoo." 

My design was, if possible, to discover some small island 
uninhabited, yet sufficient by my labour to furnish me with 
the necessaries of life, which I would have thought a greater 
happiness, than to be first minister in the politest court of 
Europe ; so horrible was the idea I conceived of returning to 
live in the society, and under the government of Yahoos 
For in such a solitude as I desired, I could at least enjoy my 
own thoughts, and reflect with delight on the virtues of those 
inimitable Houyhnhnms , without an opportunity of degenera* 
ting into the vices and corruptions of my own species. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHN1INMS. 4:17 

The reader may remember what I related, when my crew 
conspired against me, and confined me to my cabin ; how I 
continued there several weeks without knowing what course we 
took ; and when I was put ashore in the long-boat, how the 
sailors told me with oaths, whether true or false, “ that they 
knew not in what part of the world we were.” However, I 
did then believe us to be about 10 degrees southward of the 
Cape of Good Hope, or about 45 degrees southern latitude, as 
I gathered from some general words I overheard among them, 
being as I supposed to the south-east in their intended voyage 
to Madagascar. And although this were little better than 
conjecture, yet I resolved to steer my course eastward, hoping 
to reach the south-west coast of New Holland, and perhaps 
some such island as I desired lying westward of it. The wind 
was full west, and by six in the evening I computed I had 
gone eastward at least eighteen leagues : when 1 spied a small 
island about half a league off, which I soon reached. It was 
nothing but a rock, with one creek naturally arched by the 
force of tempests. Here I put in my canoe, and climbing a 
part of the rock, I could plainly discover land to the east, ex- 
tending from south to north. I lay all night in my canoe ; 
and repeating my voyage early in the morning, I arrived in 
seven hours to the south-east point of New Holland. This 
confirmed me in the opinion I have long entertained, that 
the maps and charts place this country at least three degrees 
more to the east than it really is; which thought I commu- 
nicated many years ago to my worthy friend, Mr. Herman 
Moll, and gave him my reasons for it, although he has rather 
chosen to follow other authors. 

I saw no inhabitants in the place where I landed, and being 
unarmed I was afraid of venturing far into the country. I 
found some shell-fish on the shore, and ate them raw, 
not daring to kindle a fire, for fear of being discovered by the 
native?. I continued three days feeding on oysters and 

18 * 


418 


gullivkr’s travels. 


limpets, to save my own provision ; and I fortunately found a 
brook of excellent water, which gave me great relief. 

On the fourth day, venturing out early a little too far, 1 
saw twenty or thirty natives upon a height not above five 
hundred yards from me. They were stark naked, men, 
women, and children, round a fire, as I could discover by the 
smoke. One of them spied me, and gave notice to the rest ; 
five of them advanced towards me, leaving the women and 
children at the fire. I made what haste I could to the shore, 
and getting into my canoe, shoved off; the savages observing 
me retreat, ran after me ; and before I could get far enough 
into the sea, discharged an arrow, which wounded me deeply 
on the inside of my left knee : I shall carry the mark to my 
grave. I apprehended the arrow might be poisoned, and 
paddling out of the reach of their darts (being a calm day), I 
made a shift to suck the wound, and dress it as well as I 
could. 

I was at a loss what to do, for I durst not return to the 
same landing-place, but stood to the north, and was forced to 
paddle; for the wind though very gentle, was against me, 
blowdng north-west. As I was looking about for a secure 
landing-place, I saw a sail to the north* north-east, which ap- 
pearing every minute more visible, I was in some doubt 
whether I should wait for them or not ; but at last my detes- 
tation of the Yahoo race prevailed : and turning my canoe, I 
sailed and paddled towards the south, and got into the same 
creek whence I set out in the morning, choosing rather to 
trust myself among these barbarians, than live with European 
Yahoos. I drew up my canoe as close as I could to the shore, 
and hid myself behind a stone by the little brook, which as I 
have already said was excellent water. 

The ship came within half a league of this creek, and sent 
her longboat with vessels to take in fresh water (for the place 
it seems was very well known) ; b.ut I did not observe it, till 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 419 


the boat was almost on shore ; and it was too late to seek 
another hiding place. The seamen at their landing observed 
my canoe, and rummaging it all over, easily conjectured that 
the owner could not be far off. Four of them, well armed, 
searched every cranny and lurking-hole, till at last they found 
me flat on my face behind the stone. They gazed awhile in 
admiration at my strange, uncouth dress : my coat made of 
skins, my wooden-soled shoes, and my furred stockings ; whence, 
however, they concluded, T was not a native of the place, 
who all go naked. One of the seamen, in Portuguese, bid 
me rise, and asked me who I was. I understood that language 
very well, and getting upon my feet, said, “ I was a poor 
Yahoo banished from the Houyhnhnms , and desired they 
would please to let me depart.” They admired to hear me 
answer them, in their own tongue, and saw by my complexion 
I must be a European ; but were at a loss to know what I 
meant by Yahoo and Houyhnhnms ; and at the same time 
fell a laughing at my strange tone in speaking, which resem- 
bled the neighing of a horse. I trembled ail the while betwixt 
fear and hatred. I again desired leave to depart, and was 
gently moving to my canoe : but they laid hold of me, desiring 
to know, “ what country I was of? whence I came?” with 
many other questions. I told them “ I was born in England, 
whence I came about five years, ago, and ^ then their country 
and ours were at peace. I therefore hoped they would not 
treat me as an enemy, since I meant them no harm ; but was 
a poor Yahoo seeking some desolate place where to pass the 
remainder of his unfortunate life.” 

When they began to talk, I thought I never heard or saw 
anything more unnatural ; for it appeared to me as monstrous 
as if a dog or a cow should speak in England, or a Yahoo 
in Houyhnhnmland. The honest Portuguese were equally 
amazed at my strange dress, and the old manner of delivering 
my words, which however they understood very well. They 


420 


GULLIVKlt’s travels. 


spoke tome with great humanity, and said, “they were sure 
the captain would carry me gratis to Lisbon, whence I might 
return to my own country ; that two of the seamen would go 
back to the ship, inform the captain of what they had seen, 
and receive his orders ; in the mean time, unless I would give 
my solemn oath not to fly, they would secure me by force.” 
I thought it best to comply with their proposal. They were 
very curious to know my story, I gave them very little satis- 
faction, and they all conjectured that my misfortunes had 
impaired my reason. In two hours the boat, which went 
laden with vessels of water, returned, with the captain’s com- 
mand to fetch me on board. I fell on my knees to preserve 
my liberty ; but all was in vain ; and the men, having tied me 
with cords, heaved me into the boat, whence I was taken to 
the ship, and thence into the captain’s cabin. 

His name v T as Pedro de Mendez ; he was a very courteous 
and generous person. He entreated me to give some account 
of myself, and desired to know what I would eat or drink ; 
said, “ I should be used as well as himself;” and spoke so 
many obliging things, that I wondered to find such civilities 
from a Yahoo. However I remained silent and sullen ; I was 
ready to faint at the very smell of him and his men. At last 
I desired something to eat out of my own canoe ; but he 
ordered me a chicken, and some excellent wine, and then 
directed that I should be put to bed in a very clean cabin. 1 
would not undress myself, but lay on the bed-clothes, and in 
half an hour stole out, w r hen I thought the crew was at dinner, 
and getting to the side of the ship, was going to leap into 
the sea, and swim for my life, rather than continue among 
Yahoos. But one of the seamen prevented me, and having 
informed the captain, I was chained to my cabin. 

After dinner, Don Pedro came to me, desired to know n?y 
reason for so desperate an attempt ; assured me, “ he only 
meant to do me all the service he was able;” and spo 1 e -•< 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 421 


very movingly, that at last I descended to treat him like an 
animal which had some little portion of reason. I gave him 
a very short relation of my voyage ; of the conspiracy against 
me by my own men : of the country where they set me on shore, 
and of my five years’ residence there ; all which he looked 
upon as if it were a dream or a vision ; whereat I took great 
offence ; for I had quite forgot the faculty of ly ingest) peculiar 
to Yahoos , in all countries where they preside, and, conse- 
quently, the disposition of suspecting truth in others of their 
own species. I asked him, “ whether it were the custom in 
his country to say the thing which was not ?” I assured him, 
“ I had almost forgot what he meant by falsehood, and if I 
had lived a thousand years in Houyhnhnmland , I should 
never have heard a lie from the meanest servant ; that I was 
altogether indifferent whether he believed me or not; but, 
however, in return for his favours I would give so much allow- 
ance to the corruption of his nature, as to answer any objec- 
tion he might please to make, and then he might easily dis- 
cover the truth.” 

The captain, a wise man, after many endeavours to catch 
me tripping in some part of my story, at last began to have a 
a better opinion of my veracity. But he added, “ that since 
I professed so inviolable an attachment to truth, I must give 
him my word and honour to bear him company in this voy- 
age, without attempting anything against my life: or else he 
would continue me a prisoner till we arrived at Lisbon ” I 
gave him the promise lie required ; but at the same time pro- 
tested, “ that I would suffer the greatest hardships, rather 
than return to live among Yahoos .” 

Our voyage passed without any considerable accident. In 
gratitude to the captain, I sometimes sat with him, at his ear- 
nest request, and strove to conceal my antipathy against human 
kind, although it often broke out; which he suffered to pass 
without observation. But the gfeatest part q( the dav l con- 


4:22 


gulliyer’s travels. 


fined myself to my cabin, to avoid seeing any of the ciew 
The captain had often entreated me to strip myself of my 
savage dress, and offered to lend me the best suit of clothes he 
had. This I would not be prevailed on to accept, abhorring 
to cover myself with any thing that had been on the back of 
a Yahoo. I only desired he would lend me two clean shirts, 
which, having been washed since he wore them, I believed 
would not so much defile me. These I change every second 
day, and washed them myself. 

We arrived at Lisbon, Nov. 5, 17 15. At our landing, the 
captain forced me to cover myself with his cloak, to prevent 
the rabble from crowding about me, I was conveyed to his own 
house ; and at my earnest request he led me up to the 
highest room backward. I conjured him “to conceal from 
all persons what I had told him of the Houyhnhnms ; because 
the least hint of such a story would not only draw numbers 
of people to see me, but probably put me in danger of being 
imprisoned, or burnt by the Inquisition. ,, The captain per- 
suaded me to accept a suit of clothes newly made ; but I would 
not suffer the tailor to take my measure ; however, Don Pedro 
being almost of my size, they fitted me well enough. He 
accoutred me with other necessaries, all new, which I aired 
for twenty-four hours before I would use them. 

The captain had no wife, nor above three servants, none of 
which were suffered to attend at meals ; and his whole deport- 
ment was so obliging, added to very good human understanding- 
that I really began to tolerate his company. He gained sc 
far upon me, that I ventured to look out of the back window 
By degrees I was brought into another room whence T peeped 
into the street, but drew my head back in a fright. In a week’s 
time he seduced me down to the door. I found my terror gradu- 
ally lessened, but my hatred and contempt seemed to increase. 
I was at last bold enough to walk the street in bis company, but 
kept my nose well stopped wifh rue, or sometimes with tobacco, 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 423 


In ten days, Don Pedro, to whom I had given some account 
of my domestic affairs, put it upon me, as a matter of honour 
and conscience, “ that I ought to return to my native country, 
and live at home with my wife and children.” He told me, 
“ there was an English ship in the port just ready to sail, and 
he would furnish me with all things necessary.” It would be 
tedious to repeat his argument, and my contradictions. He 
said, “ it was altogether impossible to find such a solitary island 
as I desired to live in ; but I might command in my own house, 
and pass my time in a manner as recluse as I pleased.” 

I complied at last, finding I could not do better. I left Lis- 
bon the 24th day of November, in an English merchantman ; 
but who was the master I never inquired. Don Pedro accom- 
panied me to the ship and lent me twenty pounds. He took 
kind leave of me, and embraced me at parting, which I bore 
as well I could. During this last voyage I had no commerce 
with the master or any of his men ; but pretending I was sick, 
kept close in my cabin. On the fifth of December, 1715, we 
cast anchor in the Downs, about nine in the morning, and at 
three in the afternoon I got safe to my house at Red- 


riff. 


My wife and family received me with great surprise and joy, 
because they concluded me certainly dead ; but I must 



confess the sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust, and 
contempt ; and the more, by reflecting on the near alliance I 
had to them. For although, since my unfortunate exile from 
the Houyhnhnms ’ country, I had compelled myself to tolerate 
the sight of Yahoos, and to converse with Don Pedro de Mendez, 
yet my memory and imagination were perpetually filled with 
the virtues and ideas of those exalted Houyhnhnms . And 
when I began to consider that, by copulating with one of the 
Yahoo species I had become a parent of more, it struck me 
with the utmost shame, confusion, and horror. 

As soon as I entered the house, my wife took me in her 


424 


Gulliver’s travels. 


arms, and kissed me ; at which, having not been used to the 
touch of that odious animal for so many years, I fell into a 
swoon for almost an hour. At the time I am writing, it is five 
years since my last return to England ; during the first year, 
I could not endure my wife or children in my presence ; the 
very smell of them was intolerable ; much less could I suffer 
them to eat in the same room. To this hour they dare not 
presume to touch my bread, or drink out of the same cup, 
neither was I ever able to let one of them take me by the 
hand. The first money I laid out was to buy two young stone- 
horses, which I keep in a good stable ; and next to them, the 
groom is my greatest favourite ; for I feel my spirits revived 
by the smell he contracts in the stable. My horses understand 
me tolerably well ; I converse with them at least four hours 
every day. They are strangers to bridle or saddle ; they live i* 
great amity with me, and friendship to each other. 


1 . VOYAGE TO THE HOUYIINHNMS. 425 


CHAPTER XIT. 


The Author’s veracity — His design in publishing this work— His censure of those 
travellers who swerve from the truth — The Author clears himself from any sinister 
ends in writing — An objection answered — The method of planting colonies — His 
native country commended — The right of the crown to those countries described by 
the Author, is justified — The difficulty of conquering them — The Author takes his 
last leave of the reader ; proposes his manner of living for the future ; gives good 
advice, and concludes. 


Thus, gentle reader, I have given thee a faithful history of my 
travels for sixteen years and above soven months : wherein i 
have not been so studious of ornament as of truth. I could, 
perhaps, like others, have astonished thee with strange impro- 
bable tales ; but I rather choose to relate plain matter of fact., 
in the simplest manner and style ; because my principal design 
was to inform, and not to amuse thee. 

It is easy for us who travel into remote countries, which are 
seldom visited by Englishmen or other Europeans, to form des- 
criptions of wonderful animals both at sea and land. Whereas 
a traveller’s chief aim should be to make men wiser and bet- 
ter, and improve their minds by the bad, as well as good 
example, of what they deliver concerning foreign places. 

I could heartily wish a law was enacted, that every traveller, 
before he were permitted to publish his voyages, should be 
obliged to make oath before the Lord High Chancellor, that 
all he intended to print was absolutely true to the best of his 
knowledge ; for then the world would no longer be deceived, 
as it usually is while some writers, to make their works pass 




m 


Gulliver’s travels. 


the better upon the public, impose the grossest falsities on the 
unwary reader. I have perused several books of travels with 
great delight in my younger days ; but having since gone over 
most parts of the globe, and been able to contradict many 
fabulous accounts from my own observation, it has given me a 
great disgust against this part of reading, and some indignation 
to see the credulity of mankind so impudently abused. There- 
fore, since my acquaintance were pleased to think my poor 
endeavours might not be unacceptable to my country, I imposed 
on myself as a maxim never to be swerved from, that I would 
strictly adhere to truth ; neither indeed can I be ever under 
the least temptation to vary from it, while I retain in my 
mind the lectures and example of my noble master and the 
other illustrious Houylmhnms of whom I had so long the hon- 
our to be an humble hearer. 


Nec si miserum Fortuna Sinonem 

Fir^ixit, vanum etiam, mendacemque improba finget. 

I know very well, how little reputation is to be got by writ- 
ings, which require neither genius nor learning, nor indeed 
any other talent except a good memory, or an exact journal. 
I know likewise, that writers of travels, like dictionary-makers, 
are sunk into oblivion by the weight and bulk of those who 
come last, and therefore lie uppermost. And it is highly pro- 
bable, that such travellers, who shall hereafter visit the coun- 
tries described in this work of mine, may, by detecting my 
errors (if there be any), and adding many new discoveries of 
their own, justle me out of vogue, and stand in my place, mak- 
ing the world forget that ever I was an author. This indeed 
would be too great a mortification, if I wrote for fame : but as my 
sole intention was the public good, I cannot be altogether dis- 
appointed. For who can read of the virtues I have mentioned 
in the glorious Houyhnhnms , without being ashamed of his own 
vices, when he considers himself as the reasoning, governing 


A VOYAGE TO THE nOUYHNHNMS. 427 

animal of his country ? I shall say nothing of those remote 
nations where Yahoos preside ; among which the least corrup- 
ted are the Brobdingnagians ; whose wise maxims in morality 
and government it would be our happiness to observe. But 
I forbear descanting farther, and rather leave the judicious 
reader to his own remarks and application. 

I am not a little pleased, that this work of mine can pos- 
sibly meet with no censurers ; for what objections can be made 
against a writer, who relates only plain facts, that happened 
in such distant countries, where we have not the least interest, 
with respect either to trade or negotiations ? I have carefully 
avoided every fault, with which common writers of travels are 
often too justly charged. Besides, I meddle not the least with 
any party, but write without passion, prejudice, or ill-will 
against any man, or number of men whatsoever. I write foi 
the noblest end, to inform and instruct mankind ; over whom 
I may, without breach of modesty, pretend to some superiority, 
from the advantages I received by conversing so long among 
the most accomplished Houyhnhnms. I write without any 
view to pwfit or praise. I never suffer a word to pass that 
may look ike reflection, or possibly give the least offence, even 
V ' s vto those v 10 are most ready to take it. So thatlhopelmay 
with justi j pronounce myself an author perfectly blameless ; 
against w ,om the tribes of Answerers, Considerers, Observers, 
Reflector , Detectors, Remarkers, will never be able to find 
matter f r exercising their talents. 

I co» .-ess, it was whispered to me, that I was bound in duty 
as a si jject of England, to have given in a memorial to t 
secre/ .ry of state at my first coming over ; because whateve 
land*, are discovered by a subject, belong to the crown. 

F at I doubt, whether our conquests, in the countries I tre? 
of, would be as easy as those of Ferdinando Cortez over th 
naled Americans. The Lilliputians, I think, are hard! 
rr th the charge of a fleet and army to reduce them ; and 


428 


Gulliver’s travels. 


question whether it might be prudent or safe to atKnpt the 
Brobdingnagians ; or whether an English army would be much 
at their ease, with the Flying Island over their heads. The 
Houyhnhnms indeed appeared not to be so well prepared for 
war, a science to which they are perfect strangers, and espe- 
cially against missive weapons. However, supposing myself to 
be a minister of state, I could never give my advice for invad- 
ing them. Their prudence, unanimity, unacquaintedness with 
fear, and their love of their country, would amply supply all 
defects in the military art. Imagine twenty thousand of them 
breaking into the midst of a European army, confounding 
the ranks, overturning the carriages, battering the warriors’ 
faces into mummy by terrible yerks from their hinder hoofs, 
for they would deserve the character given to Augustus, Recal- 
citrat undique tutus. But instead of proposals for conquering 
that magnanimous nation, I rather wish they were .in a cap- 
acity, or disposition, to send a sufficient number of their inhab- 
itants for civilizing Europe, by teaching us the first principles 
of honour, justice, truth, temperance, public spirit, fortitude, 
^chastity, friendship, benevolence, and fidelity. The names of 
all which virtues are still retained among us in most languages, 
and are to be met with in modern, as well as ancient authors ; 
which I am able to assert from my own small reading. 

But I had another reason, which made me less forward to 
enlarge his majesty’s dominions by my discoveries. To say 
the truth, 1 had conceived a few scruples with relation to the 
distributive justice of princes upon those occasions. For 
instance, a crew of pirates are driven by a storm they know 
not whither ; at last a boy discovers land from the topmast ; 
they go on shore to rob and plunder ; they see a harmless peo- 
ple; are entertained with kindness; they give the country a 
new name ; they take formal possession of it for their king ; 
they set up a rotten plank, or a stone, for a memorial ; the) 
murder two or three dozen of the natives, bring away a couple 


THE HOUYHNHNMS, 


A VOYAGE TC 

nore, by force, for a sample ; return home and get their v. >• 
ion. Here commences a new dominion acquired with a nth 
>y divine right. Ships are sent with the first opportu ; ; 

he natives driven out or destroyed ; their princes tortured to 
liscover their gold; a free license given to all acts of mim- 
nanity and lust, the earth reeking with the blood of its inhab- 
itants; and this execrable crew of butchers, employed 
pious an expedition, is a modern colony, sent to conven • a 
civilize an idolatrous and barbarous people ! 

But this description, I confess, does by no means affec 
British nation, who may be an example to the whole world 
for their wisdom, care, and justice in planting colonies: t-hei 
liberal endowments for the advancement of religion and i earn- 
ing; their choice of devout and able pastors to propagate 
Christianity ; their caution in stocking their provinces ifch 
people of sober lives and conversations from this the mother 
kingdom ; their strict regard to the distribution of just: hi 
supplying the civil adminstration through all their co jtd.es 
with officers of the greatest abilities, utter strangers to v 
ruption ; and, to crown all, by sending the most vigilan and 
virtuous governors, who have no other views than the happi- 
ness of the people over whom they preside, and the honour 
of the king their master. 

But as those countries, which I have described, do n ap- 
pear to have any desire of being conquered and ens 1, 

murdered or driven out, by colonies; nor abound eit ii> 

gold, silver, sugar, or tobacco, I did humbly conceive i.iidy 
were by no means proper objects of our zeal, our valour, o o nr 
interest. However, if those whom it more concerns, thin .. 
to be of another opinion, I am ready to depose, when ) Li 
be lawfully called, that no European did ever visit those 
tries before me. I mean if the inhabitants ought to >e 
lieved, unless a dispute may arise concerning the two Tain r. 


30 


GULLi V hj 


« £ T R \ YZL 


aid to have been seen many years ago upon a mountain »n 
, louyhnhnmland . 

But, as to the formality of taking possession in my sover- 
ign’s name, it never once came into my thoughts ; and if it 
iad, yet, as my affairs then stood, I should perhaps in point of 
•rudence and self-preservation, have put it off to a better op- 
ortunity. „ 

Having thus answered the only objection that can ever be 
aised against me as a traveller, I here take a final leave of ail 
ly courteous readers, and return to enjoy my own specula- 
tions in my little garden at Redriff; to apply these excellent 
3ssons of virtue, which I learned among the Houyhnhnms ; 
o instruct the Yahoos of my own family, as far. as I shall 
nd them docible animals; to behold my figure often in a 
-lass, and thus, if possible, habituate myself by time to toler- 
te the sight of a human creature; to lament the brutality of 
Toayhnhnms in my own country, but always treat their per- 
ons with respect, fcr the sake of my noble master, his family, 
is friends, and the whole Houyhuhnm race, whom these of 
ours have the honour to resemble in all their lineaments, 
Vowever their intellectuals came to degenerate. 

I began last week to permit my wife to sit at dinner with 
me, at the farthest end of along table ;' and to answer (but 
with the utmost brevity) the few questions I asked her. jfet, 
he smell of a Yahoo continuing very offensive, I always kept 
ay nose well stopped with rue, lavender, or tobacco leaves, 
^.nd, although it be hard for a man late in life to remove old 
mbits, I am not altogether out of hopes, in some time, to 
..ufter a neighbour Yahoo in ny company, without the appre- 
lensions I am yet under of his teeth or his claws. 

My reconcilement to the Yahoo kind in general might not 
3e so difficult, if they would be content with those vices and 
follies only, which nature has entitled them to. 1 am not in 
the least, provoked at die sight of a lawyer, a pickpocket, a 


A V U l auiv x o x xjl x • ix O U Y JL ^ ~ IN. 11 S 4:31 

H colonel, a fool, a lord, a gamester, a politician, a whoremonger, 

. a physician, an evidence, a suborner, an attorney, a traitor, or 
the like ; this is all according to the due course of things : 
but when I behold a lump of deformity and diseases, both in 
body and mind, smit ten with prid e, it immediately breaks all 
the measures of my patience ; neither shall I be ever able to 
comprehend how such an animal, and such a vice, could 
tally together. The wise and virtuous Houyhnhnms , who 
abound in all the excellencies that can adorn a rational crea- 
ture, have no name for this vice in their language ; which 
has no terms to express any thing that is evil, except those 
whereby they describe the detestable qualities of their Yahoos ; 
among which they were not able to distinguish this of pride, 
for want of thoroughly understanding human nature, as 
shews itself in other countries where that a'nimal preside 
But I, who had more experience, could plainly observe son e 
rudiments of it amons: the wild Yahoos. 

But the Houyhnhnms , who live under the government 
reason, are no more proud of the good qualities they posse; % 
than I should be for not wanting a leg or an arm ; which 
man in his wits would boast of, although he must be mis* 
able without them. I dwell the longer upon this subject, fre in 
the desire I have to make the society of an English Yahoo 
bv any means not insupportable ; and therefore I here entr* . 
those who have any tincture of this absuid vice, that they v 
not presume to come in my sight. 


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